Laurence Dollimore
A CELEBRITY event turned into what shoppers described as a ‘COVID bomb’ at the La Cañada shopping centre in Marbella on Saturday.
Policia Local were forced to shut down the Three Kings event after hundreds of people gathered to see singer Omar Montes, DJ Kiko Rivera and others dress up as the famous Magi.
Organised by company Platea Galia, the event, which was being streamed live on Telecinco’s Vida la Vida, had to be cancelled not long after it began.
Police said the shopping centre was well over its capacity limit and that shoppers were failing to maintain a safe distance between one another.
“It was chaos, we could not believe what we were seeing,” one British expat who was shopping with his family told the Olive Press.
“I hope no one there was infected because it might as well have been a COVID bomb, it was crazy.”
The event had been billed as ‘without an audience’, but it was known that it would be broadcast to the popular television show and on the shopping centre’s social networks.
The popularity of the stars involved saw a huge influx of people gather around the centre’s main plaza.
La Cañada issued an apology via an online statement and said it had called the police in itself ‘to restore order.’
It is reported that customers also called the authorities.
Other shocked shoppers shared photos and videos online, garnering tens of thousands of shares and comments.
“Shame on the organisers and shame on those who put their health and the health of their families at risk,” wrote one.
Another said: “Many families like mine have stayed indoors without being able to see one another, including those sick in hospital, some families have been unable to say goodbye to dying loved ones, and now they see this? Absolutely shameless and a disgrace.”
The Costa del Sol health district has managed to keep its coronavirus figures relatively low compared to the rest of the country and Andalucia region.
It is currently deemed as a ‘level 2’ risk area, joined only by the Guadalhorce Valley, La Vega, Malaga city and the Axarquia, as well as one health district in Almeria and four in Sevilla.
The rest of the region are deemed level 3 or 4, meaning they have tougher restrictions regarding the likes of restaurant capacity limits, access to parks and public transport and more.
