Riviera and Saratoga Clubs to stay closed

...well for the moment anyway.

The female judge in charge of the case of these two macro-clubs where 50-200 girls would be working around the clock has extended the 6 month closure order against them for another 6 month. This is unusual in Spain given that prostitution isnt illegal, although the clubs were described as "tools for crime" where the crime was described as the exploitation of women.

Observers dont believe that this is the start of a crusade against clubs in Spain. Its simply that there was police corruption involved, one high ranking officer called "Jordi" took 3000 euros (allegedly) in a sting operation set up by the police themselves after the clubs complained of extortion by the certain bad apples in Spain's normally un-corruptable (allegedly) police force. The 3000 euros later went missing which was quite convenient as some lucky soul gained 3 grand in cash and evidence was suddenly lacking. Please feel free to apply your imagination at any point here.

So anyway, the famous Riviera is now closed due to a police corruption case, where as in the past the discovery of class A drugs, trafficked women and firearms was obviously not seen as serious enough to warrant an interruption to the oldest industry in Spain.

Now to fill the void of these two clubs prostitutes have now appeared en-mass en the streets and motorways of Casteldefells where they could be picked up and never seen again or simply annoy the neighbours. Due to the case of the latter the council now has introduced 3000 euro fines for soliciting and kerb crawling. Wouldn't it be better if they were working in a club?

The fact these two clubs have been closed in such a way simply adds support to my personal belief that here in Spain at least clubs should be fully legalized. Had the same business have been conducted from within private apartments via adverts in LaVanguardia using pay-as-you-throw mobile phones then inspecting the places would have become a huge task as they could have relocated every few months.

A classic example is a club in Calle Alcalde Porqueres, Lerida/Leida in Catalunya where 6 trafficked Russian girls were found working. Whether it was against their wishes or not I dont know but since it was a regular club at street level, open to the public the authorities were able to pass by and inspect the place whenever they wished, including last week when the girls were found. Again, had that club have been made illegal then those girls would have been working in an apartment, un-marked and they'd never have been found by the inspection. I rest my case!

*please note these are my interpretations of events from sources ranging from daily newspapers to forums. I have never actually seen the Police reports into criminal activities in Riviera and Saratoga and we have to assume their owners are innocent until proven guilty in the same way that the Police chief in question "Jordi" is not guilty of loosing a 3000 euro bung until proven guilty in court.