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Saturday, 05.36 am Cura BeachTorrevieja. There is still a good time for dawn and groups of young people who take advantage of the last hours of a Farra night, but the cameras of Mastral projectan weather information platform, capture a curious phenomenon in this corner of the Alicante coast: a white t -shirt man advances through the sand loaded with his pertrechos beach, mounts a couple of sun loans and nailed an umbrella in the first line of beach, almost almost where the waves die.
The recording shows nothing more, but since at that time there is not a miserable sun ray is not unreasonable to think that man returns home to continue sleeping until, tomorrow, he can claim his beach plot.
Yes, 5.36 in the morning. The video Extended by mastral project has not taken long to go viral, with thousands of reproductions, for a very simple reason: although already We are accustomed To the bathers who go to the beaches at the top hour to reserve a hole and then leave, it is still surprising that there are people willing to do so at dawn. In the specific case of Torrevieja, the recording shows that the first ‘colone’ arrives at 05.36 and its umbrella is planted at 05.41, when it only served (at most) to protect itself from the moonlight.
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The ‘War of the umbrellas’. The video reflects the escalation of the ‘War of the umbrellas’a phenomenon that has been cooking in the middle country, especially in the busiest years. Its logic is quite simple: the struggle to get the best holes in the sand, in the front line, leads some bathers to get up early to nail their umbrellas and other belongings. They often keep their place and then leave. The summer version of the Pica in Flanders.
The practice is usual especially in Levante and has even encouraged his particular submerged economy. Just a year ago Malaga’s opinion He informed That, for the street sale of soft drinks, towels, glasses and massages, a new business on the beaches of the region had joined: the rental of umbrellas to tourists for 10 euros. In fact in just a week the Local Police came to withdraw about 30.
Playeros landowners. Although tails/struggles/discussions to plant ultimate upset or scenes such as the one captured by mastral is curious, in the background there is a major problem: the use of public spaces as if it were farms. And that is not something exclusive to Levante. Nor is it done alone with umbrellas.
In 2024 Vigo lived His particular controversy After several photos of bathers that bounded plots (in some cases of several meters) with rows of window. The objective: entrenched inside with towels, portable refrigerators, umbrellas, chairs and tables, as in a bungaló.
Of beaches … and swimming pools. The phenomenon is not exclusive to the beaches. Community pools They have their own. In 2022 it circulated A video which showed the fierce competition of the guests of a hotel for giving the best sun loungers in the pool as the doors of the installation opened, at 7.59 h. Some even ran and threw their towels to occupy the free squares.
A quick search arrives on Tiktok to find similar recordings. Or even stamps still more surreallike a towel tail in a hotel in Mallorca, a particular system for saving tail at the entrance of the pool.
A problem: the law. The problem is that in his zeal for enjoying the sun, the swimmer Hypermadugador of Torrevieja or the landowners of Vigo They forget something: the law. The beaches are regulated by the Coast Law 2/1988that progresses that the sand “will not be of private use”, but some municipalities have gone further specifying that spaces cannot be reserved. It is in those cases in which vacationers must be more careful when planting their towels.
In September 2015 without going any further, the Torrevieja Local Police put a 150 euros fine to a swimmer for installing his umbrella early in the day in a privileged place of the beach of the priest to reserve room. It was useless to resort to him and claim that he was taking a dip, the penalty It was ratified in 2016.
“Dangerous practice”. “Those of us who live in Torrevieja know that there are people who at 5.30 places their umbrella on the beach and leaves,” explained to the newspaper The provinces Javier Manzanares, councilor, before pointing out that practices thus complicate the work of the operators that clean the sand. “It is a dangerous practice. It hinders a job that they carry out until six in the morning.”
What does the law say? The most convenient thing is to consult the ordinances of each municipality. In the case of Torrevieja Your regulations It is very clear: the authorities will consider a mild infraction “to leave parasols installed (…), umbrellas, chairs, tables or any other complement, provided that its owners are not present, for the mere fact of having reserved a place on the beach.”
It is not a unique case. In 2022 Cullera published A side in which he underlined the prohibition of installing “particular elements” before eight in the morning and warned that the City Council itself would be in charge of withdrawing them. The document includes Other indications On the use of sand and ends by warning that skipping their indications entails sanctions that can go from 750 to 3,000 euros.
Are there more examples? Yes. A few. Leaving umbrellas and chairs to reserve a hole on the beaches is prohibited in Torrox, Vélez-Málaga, Gandía, Carob tree either Nerjawhich was responsible for warning of the veto at the beginning of the pandemic. And that to quote only a handful of examples. Those who skip the law risk more than a reprimand, as happened to the torrevieja’s swimmer of 2015. Of course, the sanctions They can range From one case to another. Algarrobo or Torrox, for example, warn that if they are umbrella reserving spaces and can only recover after paying a fine of 30 euros.
Images | Rodrigo Soldon (Flickr) and MMV (Flickr)
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