New Magalluf? Same Magalluf

Mayor Alfonso Rodríguez did at least acknowledge the problem recently. He added his voice to calls for more police, in particular the Guardia Civil. Meanwhile, he held out hope that a changing clientele in the resort will lead to a reduction or elimination of the problem.

When might this be, though, and is his hope justified? The residents of the Magasol apartments are seeing little evidence of a different clientele. They have denounced the behaviour of tourists who, they say, commit acts of vandalism. At weekends, things are at their worst. "You cannot live there."

Dozens of young drunken tourists enter corridors and communal areas. They urinate, they break things, they have sex. In the morning, the residents find condoms and even encounter tourists sleeping off their drunkenness on balconies. They point out that the local police and the Guardia Civil do come and throw the tourists out, but then the police leave. The residents want greater police presence, therefore. So does the mayor.