Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Flout on the town
Spanish party resort Magaluf has introduced 109 new laws to curb the boozy excesses of young Brit tourists... so that went well, then
A GIRL, barely 18, is slumped unconscious on the stretcher as it is lifted into the ambulance. Her friends sit on the pavement, head in hands, barely understanding what’s gone on. Shirtless lads, still covered in foam, are explaining the obvious. “She’s completely out of it,” they tell the paramedics. This girl has not had an accident. She’s just finished a bar crawl called Pass Out. And tomorrow she’ll be hailed a legend – provided she does wake up. This is 3.30am on Punta Ballena – Magaluf’s notorious party strip – on the week the mayor has vowed another zerotolerance crackdown. Magaluf has brought in 109 new offences to curb boozy behaviour, including no sex or boozing in the street, no nudity, and no public urinating. Fines range from £90 to £550. But this is “Shagaluf ”. There might be 109 laws, but the kids aren’t listening. Hairdresser Gemma Allen, 19, of Salford, back for her second time, brags that the booze is still flowing: “Nothing’s changed. It’s still as mental as ever. We come here for a good time, to let our hair down and get f***ing wasted.” And a rep for one of the other infamous bar crawls is also quick to boast: “The rules are absolute nonsense. Everything is the same.” We’d been in the resort just 24 hours, and it was clear they were right. Bar crawls were starting as early as 4.30pm. By 8.30pm several girls were sprawled drunk, sitting on the road. Many flash their breasts as they walk down the street, holding their drinks. Further along the strip, another lad throws neon green
vodka shots down the throats of three girls perched on a pavement, strewn with broken glass and vomit. In a nearby alleyway, other young men brazenly stop for a quick pee on the side of the street, in full view of the drunken crowds. In one nightclub, at the top of the strip, the DJ eggs on his eager crowd with lewd requests, including: “Come on girls, get on stage and get your f***ing t*ts out.” A few female partygoers oblige, to the cheers of baying male admirers. Moments later, he asks his male revellers to do the same with their “c***s out”. Even the much publicised noise ban seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Town hall officials in Magaluf ’s municipality of Calvia say they are enforcing an EU directive to ban loud music, meaning any sound louder than 60 decibels – the noise of a vacuum cleaner – is outlawed. But the Mirror recorded sounds of up to 75db outside a bar at 5pm – reaching highs of 94db by 2.30am. The more bizarre bans on the new list, introduced for this 2017 party season, include scaling balconies, picking flowers and building “unauthorised sand sculptures”. Majorca politicians have also banned displays of booze from outside shops and spitting – both still common sights on the strip, where two pints and two shots are on offer for just £3.80. It was three years ago the resort first reached crisis point after a girl from Northern Ireland was filmed performing 24 sex acts during a party game on a Carnage bar crawl. The video went viral leading to global headlines – and Shagaluf becoming infamous as a centre for debauchery. This week, it was the drinking games rather than sex acts that seemed a favourite on the crawls. Just 30 minutes into one and games had already included girls licking alcohol from the filthy dancefloor. The Pass Out crawl runs four nights a week with “the craziest games” and a four-hour free bar for £25. It suggests “partying hard until you PASSOUT.” The Magaluf Bar Blitz promises a five-hour free bar, free shisha, free shots and drinking games for just £20. An Instagram page for Magaluf Sunset Booze Cruise is filled with pictures of bikini-clad women holding up signs referencing casual sex, including: “The sun, the sand and a one-night stand.” The cruise promises a four-hour free bar, unlimited shots and an afterparty, for just £50. Another Magaluf site included a picture of a positive pregnancy test with the caption: “Coming home after a week in Maga and thinking ‘right, which one is the father?’” A woman also posted a snap of her new thigh tattoo saying she “got destroyed in Shagaluf ”. The outrageous inkings are a common sight on the island. One tattoo artist admitted he mainly works through the night inking “arse tattoo after arse tattoo” on revellers enjoying bar crawls. The booze cruises are the next target for a crackdown. Majorca tourism manager Pilar Carbonell says: “The government will be amending the tourism law in order to put a stop to the booze cruises which adversely affect the image of some resorts, Magaluf being one.” In the meantime locals are desperate to see the 109 new public order offences enforced. Fanny Fiolleary, 42, owner of Tana a Gustito – an upmarket tapas bar just a stone’s throw away from the strip – says: “We want to offer a different type of Magaluf experience, more like the true spirit of Spain. “By opening places like this we can show the area has more to offer.” Despite the Mirror proving the new rules are still being brazenly broken on the strip’s streets, the authorities insist they are doing all they can. Mayor Alfonso Rodriguez Badal says: “The town hall – with other administrations and entrepreneurs – are acting against the tourism of excesses, from many fields.” Other locals are hitting back. Residents and businesses have set up a petition on Change.org to protest police and local government are not doing enough to target “over-exploitation of resources at a cheap price”. But considering what the Mirror witnessed – within just 24 hours of visiting the resort – Shagaluf isn’t going to shake off its notorious nickname any time soon. Magaluf Box Office, which sells Pass Out bar crawl tickets made no comment.
Home after a week in Maga and wondering who is the father INSTAGRAM WITH PIC OF POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST