CORONAVIRUS
Coronavirus fines: Madrid bring in special controls to stop movement
Police in Madrid, Spain have been given special control to stop people in an effort to prevent people moving without good reason during Easter.
Spain's municipal police are busier than usual during coronavirus lockdown as measures have been brought in to stop unjustified movement. With Easter weekend upon us, people have been breaking lockdown measures more than ever and the police have clamped down. They fined 2,134 on Wednesday, which was triple the number from the day before (672). They arrested 34 people and stopped 918 cars and will continue with the stricter measures over the weekend.
This special effort is being made to stop Madrileños from leaving the city over the long weekend. Thursday and Friday are bank holidays in Spain. Many Madrid residents have second homes on the coast of Spain and in villages outside of Madrid and the police want to stop them from potentially bringing the virus into smaller villages.
The figures released by the city council reflect the amount of unjustified movement seen in the last two days. Social media was full of pictures and videos of traffic on some of the biggest motorways leading out of Madrid including the A-6 and the A-3.
"We will not let a single person put the rest of us at risk," said José Luis Martínez-Almeida, Madrid's mayor as he warned against people leaving their homes without a valid reason.
Fines are in the region of €600 euro but can be much higher for repeat or belligerent offenders.
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