Alex Trelinski
FINES of up to €3,000 could be handed to beggars and prostitutes on Alicante streets after the city council passed a new wide-ranging ordnance.
The measure was passed by the ruling Partido Popular-Ciudadanos coalition with the help of votes from the far-right Vox party.
Vox in turn have agreed to support the next municipal budget which offers significant cuts in social aid.
Councillor Natxo Bellido from the regional left-wing Compromis party described the new ordnance as being brought about by a ‘terrible alliance’ which ‘places Alicante on the map of shame’.
Opposition parties have vowed to revoke the measure if they win power at next year’s municipal elections.
Prostitutes carrying out ‘sexual practices’ or directly or indirectly offering and negotiating sexual services will be fined between €750 and €1,500.
Coercion from prostitutes as well as beggars ‘bothering’ children or disabled people sees a potential fine of up to €3,000.
Other infractions in the new ordnance include walking in the street without a shirt; car audio systems turned up at high volumes; playing football in the road at ‘unauthorised’ hours; and using skateboards in prohibited areas.
Alicante’s Security Councillor, Jose Ramon Gonzalez, said that the law is no different from cities ‘like Barcelona and Valencia’ where ‘the Partido Popular is not in charge’.
“We are responding to a unanimous request from the people of Alicante to have ordnances again,” he stated.
Over begging and prostitution fines, Ramon Gonzalez said the new law ‘does not go against individuals, but against mafias and people who prostitute women’.
He added that not ‘everything is solved with a fine’ and that the ‘most vulnerable’ would be offered help from social services.
The ordnance comes into force 15 days after details are published in regional official gazettes.
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