The Alicante airport and Train Station have become two important means of entry for people who are attempting to circumvent the border closure in the province of Alicante and the Valencian Community at the start of Holy Week .
And just last weekend, between Friday and Sunday, the National Police issued almost 300 fines in the seven main provincial cities.
Approximately half of them were to passengers fined at the train station and at the Alicante-Elche airport, where since last Wednesday an average of almost 30 passengers a day have been arriving on domestic flights in breach of the perimeter closure.
With just four domestic flights a day, the police have gone from fining less than half a dozen offenders to a daily average of almost thirty people who have travelled without providing a justified reason.
In addition to domestic flights, 54 antigen tests were carried out at the airport last weekend on aircraft passengers from overseas with all tests found to be negative. Since these tests began last November, 908 of them have been carried out with just only four testing positive for COVID.
Of the 270 penalties for breaching the perimeter closure at the weekend in Alicante, Elche, Benidorm, Dénia, Orihuela, Alcoy and Elda, about 80 are for aircraft passengers and about 70 for train travellers. The bulk of the fines at the Alicante railway station were issued last Friday.
Meanwhile, as they attempt to visit the area over Easter people from all over Spain who have a second residence in the province are demanding that their community administrators send them certifications of non-existent leaks or damages to their homes to justify their travel and avoid the fine from the State security forces for breaching the perimeter closure.
Belén Sánchez, vice-president of the Association of Property Administrators of the province said that in recent days her members have had about 800 requests, especially in the coastal area, for certificates claiming damages to properties requiring attention, “but we have categorically refused,” she said.
