The other side of the San Juan festival

AS SPECIAL as the San Juan festivities can be, there is another aspect to it, with dozens of incidents reported that leave a bad taste the morning after. While many are nursing hangovers with fond memories of a fantastic celebration of summer, the combination of bonfires, alcohol and huge crowds inevitably lead to trouble.
National Police arrested a person accused of murdering a man by stabbing him in the Malvarrosa beach in Valencia. In addition, a 24-year-old Romanian man was reported to have been attacked with a blunt object after a fight.
Also in Valencia, Cruz Roja staff assisted 121 people for alcohol intoxication, 29 for wounds, 24 for burns, 15 with concussions, as well as nine people with foreign objects in their eyes, amongst others.
In Galicia there were 40 incidences of alcohol intoxication and six traffic accidents with eight injured, as well as 10 people burnt by the bonfires.
An underage girl was severely burnt in the Playa de Berria in Santoña (Cantabria).
The most severe burns case in Madrid took place in Vallecas, where a 17-year-old boy has sustained serious injuries which affected 15 per cent of his body.
There were explosions in a number of places where people threw forbidden items into the bonfires. In Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country, an exploding gas bottle injured five people, and a similar case in another Basque town, Zarautz.
Vandals took their chance to create havoc in Algeciras (Cadiz Province), where more than 130 wooden walkways were burnt to the ground on the Rinconcillo and Getares beaches. Two fibreglass boats were also set on fire and continued burning until Wednesday morning.