Torrevieja has acknowledged that the sale of illegal goods by ‘Looky Looky’ men in the town is out of control this summer, despite the reinforcements to the Local Police and Civil Guard forces, and as such, in a bid to eradicate the problem, they are taking the ‘easy option’ in fining the tourists, rather than ridding the streets of the scourge of illegal salesmen.
The Council has started a campaign whereby 200-euro fines that will be imposed on buyers of “top blanket” products on the city streets and promenades. Purchasers are mostly residential tourists, they say, and the sanction has now been included in the latest modification of the ordinance of occupation of public roads.
The municipal ‘initiative’ is being publicised through social networks, outdoor advertising, led screens and in local businesses. In addition, the information is published in both Spanish and English.
They say that it is fundamentally preventive in nature because, when imposing any fine, the Police officer must be a direct witness of the moment that the sale takes place, and they must directly observe the purchase. However, as we regularly see, when the vendors, immigrants of Senegalese origin, see local police or a Civil Guard officer, run off with their merchandise to another area of the promenade where they continue their activity.
The sale of clothing, footwear, bags and baseball caps, normally counterfeit products imitating major brands, covers the pavements in the main routes of walkers on Paseo de Juan Aparicio and Avenida de Los Marineros on Playa del Cura, usually in the late afternoon and early at night. They are situated between the hospitality terraces, laying out their products on the road and by sea.
Unfortunately, with the introduction of the campaign, it would appear that the council is admitting that the surveillance of the Local Police and Civil Guard is largely ineffective, so they have decided to target the tourist instead.
The Council said that it contemplated the possibility of carrying out the campaign, with posters, on the promenade itself, but they fear that tourism, the main engine of the local economy, will be identified as responsible for the purchases. In addition, the posters would be taken town by the sellers, so it has decided to take this step, despite already being well into the high season, due to the complaints about the impassable and overcrowded appearance that the main tourist area of Torrevieja presents.
The sale of the top blanket (looky looky) affects the entire coastline of the province. In Torrevieja it has been present with greater or lesser intensity for more than 15 years.
The Council tried a forceful strategy against such illegal sales between 2011 and 2014. It was during the first term that Eduardo Dolón was the mayor. He created a group to carry out special services from within the Local Police, that assumed tasks related to citizen security with direct interventions, but with mass riots and brawls across the town between the police and the illegal sellers it all went badly wrong.
The mayor, now in his third term, prefers to avoid conflict. He has spoken to other administrations at a higher level of Government and considers that it should be they that act more forcefully. The mayor said that at the beginning of the summer, he knew what was coming, and that the National Police should use its powers in checking the papers of immigrants, and acting accordingly with those who are found to be in the country illegally, pointing out the Aliens Law. However the Government Sub delegation pointed out that the powers over the control of street vending is exclusive to the individual municipalities.
