Laurence Dollimore
EXCLUSIVE nightclub Olivia Valere has been raided by police after exceeding its COVID-19 capacity limit.
Policia Local stormed the club in the early hours of Tuesday morning during a performance by the singer Soolking.
Videos shared online show crowds of young people blatantly breaking social distancing norms while dancing in large groups and not wearing masks.
Olivia Valere, who has owned the club for decades, told Malaga Hoy that ‘more than 150 young people slipped in’, causing the excess in capacity.
Valere said the people in the clips ‘had not paid’ and that it was police, working with nightclub security guards, who kicked them out at 3:30am.
Nightclubs have been allowed to open in Andalucia since June 8, but there are rules against dancing and social distancing must be in place.
Olivia Valere said all its tables were sold with the intention of guests sitting to see Soolking, but groups of young people allegedly sneaked through several security doors.
“We had a great singer who created a lot of buzz and at one point we found young people who had entered through the different security doors,” Valere told Malaga Hoy.
“We sold all the tables we could have and at 3:30am we found more people than we could accept … there are tables on the dance floor and you cannot dance. We had an overflow of young people.”
Olivia Valere has hosted celebs like Paris Hilton and Eva Longoria and is spread over 3,000sqm with a capacity of up to 900 people.
In the ‘new normal’, that has been reduced to 350.
“The problem is that after three months of confinement the youth are crazy, they want to have a little distraction because they are tired of being at home,” added Valere, “before, I cried because I had no clients and today I cry because I have had too many.”
