Ómicron turns off the New Year’s party in Barcelona

Much desire, but little party. This would be the best summary of the New Years Eve 2021 and the celebration of the arrival of 2022 in Barcelona. The Paseo del Born, the Port Olímpic, the Barceloneta, the Plaza de Cataluny, the Plaza de Espanya or the Plaza de los Àngels gathered dozens of tourists wanting to party and much alcohol in vein, who finally vacated the public highway with resignation. “We can’t go anywhere else, there is a curfew,” commented a young Italian riding a scooter at two in the morning in Barceloneta. After four in the morning, with the practically empty beaches, some agents of the Mossos and the Urban Guard certified it. “We weren’t expecting it, but it has finally been a quiet night.”

The exhaustion of the pandemic along with the desire to dance, drink and dream that 2022 will not lead to more confinements was already glimpsed before eleven at night on the Paseo del Born. The venues, open until midnight, had long lines to get in. OROthers carried bottles of cava, rum, or beer and danced in the plaza playing with streamers or scarecrows. “At least here you can dance; in France at five o’clock everything is closed”, he described Sara, a girl who came from Lyon to celebrate the New Year in Barcelona and already with difficult problems to vocalize due to high alcohol intakes. And where will you end the party? “Our plan was to go back to the hotel, but now some guys They are inviting us to a house to continue the party after onea “, he said with a laugh.

Grapes in the Plaza de Catalunya

Shortly before midnight, the Rambla and the Raval were filling up. On the street, many carried bottles of alcohol and the terraces were full, with pitchers of sangria or beer overflowing on the tables. In a totally improvised way, the Plaza de Catalunya was filled with tourists. MathieuFor example, he had arrived with his wife, children and other friends to celebrate the New Year in the Catalan capital. “Precisely a year ago I was in a hospital bed admitted for the covid: this time I have decided that we have to celebrate life “, he would say full of streamers and with a hat.

Juroen and Niek, two thirty-somethings from HollandThey also waited for the arrival of midnight with a bottle of cava in hand. “Ten years ago we celebrated the end of the year in a different city, and this time we chose Barcelona because it is my favorite,” added Juroen, one of the few who wore a mask in the place.

It was twelve o’clock and, mysteriously, twelve chimes sounded. Few ate the 12 grapes, but the cries of “Happy New Year!” they were heard in dozens of different languages. Then came the firecrackers, fireworks and video calls. Some from Russia, others to Italy. “We like to party and we like Barcelona, Let’s see what the night brings us, it sure won’t disappoint us“, ventured Filippo, an 18-year-old Italian young man.

Riot police at the Olympic Port

At one in the morning in El Born there were barely 70 people left on the street. “I can’t take it anymore, I’m a vaccinated denier: We have done everything they have told us and even so we still cannot go out, without being able to enjoy … “, he told of the few Catalans who remained on the walk. The party dissolved after two in the morning.

It cost more to make the tourists disappear in the Olympic Port. Many had attended club and casino parties in the area, but with the closure forced at one o’clock they crowded on the beach and there the fights and robberies began. At four in the morning, and after the presence of the riot police, the last ten irreducible said goodbye to the party and the New Year reluctantly on the Somorrostro beach. Igor, a French tourist, refused to throw the last beer balanced by the effect of alcohol. Svetlana, a Russian girl, attended the police to report the theft of her cell phone despite the fact that at that time it was forbidden to be on the street.

Parties starting at 6

The street party disappeared, but many encounters moved inside the dwellings. From there came the reggaeton music, the screaming and the colored lights in most of the city streets. However, the police barely entered them, since in the vast majority there were less than ten people inside. As confirmed by several agents of the police forces, they barely detected large encounters. Many chose rent rural houses or go to spaces far from the cities and neighborhoods. Others they organized parties starting at six in the morning, waiting for less police control by the end of the curfew.

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In the end, at least as regards street parties, the massive meetings in Barcelona were not repeated. The scenes of the health workers of the Sistema d’Emergències Mèdiques attending to alcohol poisoning were seen again. One of them, a 25-year-old unconscious in front of the subway stop half an hour after the chimes. Another, a 40-year-old man in the Poblenou neighborhood just as he was returning to the hotel, shortly after three in the morning.

“It is still early. From five o’clock is when they arrive,” counted several health workers from the emergency rooms of the Hospital Clinic, saturated with work and patients at three in the morning. Tonight, hospitals, in addition to treating covid patients, have also had to take care of people affected by drug and alcohol intoxication. “Our job is to attend to all of them, you cannot think about where they have been infected or what they have done,” they commented.