Alex Trelinski
NIGHT curfews in most of Catalunya have been revoked by orders of the region’s top court.
The regional government submitted an application to continue with night restrictions introduced in July to help keep COVID-19 cases down.
Three previous renewal requests have been approved by High Court judges.
This time they rejected an extension for 129 of the 148 requested municipalities, including the regional capital Barcelona.
The 19 areas that will maintain the curfew until August 27 have COVID cases of over 250 per 100,000 residents.
The court ruling said the overall request was ‘not justified’ as coronavirus infections were falling.
A statement said: “The measures are not so much justified on health grounds, but for reasons of security or public order.”
The curfew in Catalunya, as in other Spanish regions, has been largely aimed at restricting gatherings of unvaccinated young people.
The meetings known as botellons are staged in beach and park areas.
The High Court did agree to allow a week-long extension of a ban on public or private gatherings of more than ten people across the region.
That in theory should deal with botellons if authorities choose to act against them.
