Cristina Hodgson
HUNDREDS of people have flocked to Malaga Centre with the lifting of mobility restrictions.
The weekend has seen the streets of Malaga filled with pedestrians, intense traffic and shops and restaurants buzzing.
With the lifting of mobility restrictions, movement within the province has led to the more popular areas of the city becoming swamped with people.
The next few days will be critical in determining whether the step taken by the Junta to open municipal borders has a negative impact on health numbers.
Seeing how hundreds of people swarmed Calle Larios just a few weeks ago in order to see the Christmas lights, the city council reinforced police presence in the area.
31 police agents have spent the weekend patrolling Calle Larios and it’s most immediate surroundings.
The road was even cordoned off at 8:10pm on Saturday in what Councillor for Security, Avelino Barrionuevo has described as a ‘simulation excercise’ in order to determine how many minutes are needed to clear the area.
Police positioned barriers at the beginning of the street from the Alameda and at all the access points along the side roads, closing off traffic flow but guaranteeing that pedestrians could get out at any time.
The procedure took four minutes to complete.
Despite the ‘simulation’ taking place at 8:10pm, the peak of pedestrian and traffic flow was just after 6pm, coinciding with the closure of the bars and restaurants, which still have their own curfew at that time.
Barrionuevo has acknowledged that there is no objective parameter that will determine when Calle Larios is to be cordoned off, the decision will fall on the corresponding police inspector on the ground at the time.
