Drinkers defy Magaluf alcohol crackdown: 'We're here to love life, we're not here to worry about drinking in the street'

Video: The police onslaught on Shagaluf may be harder to impose than previously thought

(Press Association)

With strict new rules coming into force in Magaluf to help the popular holiday resort strip itself of the nickname "Shagaluf", it seems the hardy British drinker and party-goer is not going to cower that easily in the face of a police crackdown.

New laws said to come into force on 9 June state that there will be mandatory uniforms for pub-crawlers, arrests for anyone encouraging antisocial behaviour and £500 fines for urinating on the street. Police in the holiday resort on the island of Majora will be given an extra 36 officers to enforce the new rules.

While Calvià Council is one of the richest areas in Spain thanks to Magaluf's popularity with the package holiday crowd, British troublemakers - high on life, sun, sex and a lack of suspicious parents - have angered residents annoyed by their town's increasingly notorious image. In 2014, a video of a teenage girl from Northern Ireland performing sex acts on 24 men in return for free alcohol went viral.

In a bid to "guarantee the wellbeing and enjoyment of tourists and locals," the local authority is imposing the most draconian rules in any Spanish resort from 9 June.

However, a quick walk down Magaluf's infamous strip shows that not everyone is aware of the rules - and when they are told about them, they defiantly (and drunkenly) declare themselves revolutionaries in the face of the Calvià crackdown.

"Magaluf rocks, I've been here four times and I just love it," said one party animal. When young woman was asked about whether she knew about the new rules, she said she did not,adding that thew new laws would not have stopped her from booking her holiday nor would they halt her from drinking.

"They can f*** off. We're here for a reason. We're here to get f***ing mortal. We're here to just love life. We're not here to f***ing worry about drinking on the street. I get enough of that in Scotland," the young Scot replied.

"We're f***ing here to get mortal on the street. I don't give a s***, fine me, do whatever you want. I'm going to get f***ing mortal on the street."

When asked about the strict nature of the new rules, the woman replied: "Who's going to listen them anyway? Who's going to actually give a s***? How they going to stop folk? It's Magaluf!"

Such a response to the new laws mirrors the fears of Jason Moore, the editor of Majorca Daily Bulletin, who told The Independent last week that he was sceptical about the new penalties.

"Every year a crackdown is promised but nothing is done, and 36 coppers working a street that at any one time has 2,000 people aren’t going to have much effect."

What are the new rules?

• Drinking on the streets banned between 10pm and 8am.
• Shops prohibited from selling alcohol after midnight.
• Urinating in the street or being naked in public will incur a minimum fine of €750 – with penalties applied equally to bystanders who egg on their friends to commit such acts.
• Pub-crawl numbers will be limited to 20 per pub crawl.
• The revellers must have a minimum of two minders, trained in first aid, in attendance.
• Penalties of up to €3,000 will apply to "balconing", the practice of jumping from one balcony to another or into a hotel pool from a height.