Catalonia: the French wanted after throwing a butt surrendered to the police

SPAIN – While the risk of fire is currently highest in Catalonia, a French tourist was wanted by the Spanish authorities for having thrown a cigarette butt out of the window of his car, a black Peugeot registered in Occitania.

The scene was filmed by passers-by in the seaside resort of Palafrugell near Girona, then broadcast on social networks. The images had gone viral and denounced by many Internet users.

The local police then launched an investigation to find the two occupants of the car.

👉 Thanks to all the people who have reported the situation and also thanks to the different cameras located in #Palafrugell , the Local Police will administratively denounce this uncivil behavior. pic.twitter.com/fPgjeW5Eio

– Ajunt. Palafrugell (@ajpalafrugell) August 3, 2021

Finally, according to information from Parisian this Thursday, August 5, the two young men concerned went that same day to the police station of Palafrugell where they were sanctioned with a fine of 200 euros.

400 hectares burned in mid-July near the Franco-Spanish border

“They recognized the facts but say they did not measure the consequences”, indicated a French police source to the Parisian.

“In the current context, with the intense heat and high temperatures, one cannot risk suffering a new fire due to the jet of cigarettes from a moving car”, explained the local police.

In mid-July, a fire had devastated more than 400 hectares of forest in the Cap de Creus natural park on the Catalan coast, near the Franco-Spanish border.

About 350 people had to be evacuated in the neighboring municipalities, as well as a hundred residents of a local campsite.

The fire broke out in the town of Llança, about twenty kilometers from the French border, probably because of a cigarette butt, according to the Catalan authorities.

Due to its hot and dry climate, Spain, the second largest tourist destination in the world before the Covid-19 pandemic, is regularly hit in summer by major forest fires which, according to experts, threaten to become more frequent and more violent due to global warming.

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