Youth Council debates street drinking parties

THE Youth Council of the Balearic Islands held talks last Saturday with groups of young people in Palma about what motivates them to hold street drinking parties (botellon). The Council also asked for their views on solutions to the social problems the late night parties are causing.

In fact, several meetings had been held throughout the course of last week at different points in the city to try and reach a consensus view of how best to tackle what many local businesses and residents, especially on the Paseo Maritimo are describing as a “scourge”.

The move comes as the City Council prepares to pass new legislation clamping down on the holding of street drinking parties, and the unsightly litter problem which follows in their wake.

The Youth Council said that it was “saddened” by the fact that the new draft legislation all but defines the botellón as a threat to decent, peace-loving society instead of taking the view that the health of young people needs to be protected and that they should be discouraged from drinking alcohol.

The Council also said that moving the site of the street drinking parties from one side of Palma to another, and soliciting the intervention where necessary of both the Local Police and Ports Authorities is going to solve very little.

The answer, a spokesman suggested, will lie in tackling the underlying causes of the botellon and in correcting behaviour on the streets. The Council has made space available on social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook for a public interchange of views.

Tomorrow evening, there will be an evening meeting of youth organisations in Palma to reach consensus on how existing legislation might be amended to incorporate curtailing currently unbridled revelry.