The Community of Madrid cancels the Madrid Puro Reggaeton Festival due to lack of security. After a meeting between the administration and the organizing company in which the organizers of the event have provided new reports, the regional government has opted for the suspension of the event which took place this afternoon after stating that the security plan was based on the Caja Mágica site and is not adaptable to the Wanda Metropolitano. In addition, it was not considered safe by the Madrid Municipal Police either.
Luis Miguel Torres, general director of Security, Civil Protection and Training of the Community of Madrid, has stated that “security is the highest priority”. “When we received the information about the event – a fact that assures that it took place on July 12 – we asked the Municipal Police for a report that leaves us very little room for maneuver and raises a series of doubts about the security of the event and how it was conceived. for the Magic Box, which It has little to do with the Wanda. The Caja Mágica offered all participants access to the track, something that also cannot be given at the Wanda”, he added.
The Government delegation in Madrid would also have expressed to the Community of Madrid its concern about the security flaws, as confirmed by the regional government, which has highlighted that the security problems were already plausible before the change of location and that, in addition, the reports were raised for the realization of the event in the Magic Boxand at no time in the stadium.
“The work previously done by the promoters regarding the prevention and security plan for a space like the Caja Mágica is not valid for the Wanda. If I prepare a security plan enabled for a space with certain characteristics, when I move to another space we could hardly validate it“, assured Torres, who has stressed that “it is not a requirement that it has suddenly appeared to hinder this event”. In this sense, has urged the promoters of the event to change the date and not suspend it in order to carry out a specific plan for the Wanda Metropolitano in more realistic terms.
The company already announced on Instagram, instead, the cancellation of the event and has assured that in the coming days will open a term of return of the money and will provide the necessary information for it.
48 bewildering hours for 35,000 attendees
Barely 48 hours before the Madrid Puro Reggaeton Festival kicked off, the event’s official account made the change of location public. “We moved!”, they affirmed this Wednesday on their Instagram account, without the attendees having more information about the changes: just a generalized email in which they confirmed this turn to “gain space” and attached a map of the stadium. Neither details about the organization in the new location, nor any personal communication with the more than 35,000 people with tickets.
Immediately afterwards, and in the face of an avalanche of public complaints, the company also disabled comments on Instagram posts. At the end of the same Wednesday, they added a new ‘post’ with infographics on the schedules of the performances and a small map detailing two access points to the stadium: one for attendees with a ‘VIP’ ticket and another for the general admission.
In neither of the two channels of information did the company provide the necessary data on the location of each entrance, they did not even detail whether the attendees were going to have an assigned seat. Until then, the festival, which lasted two days and started this Friday at 4:15 p.m., was going to be in the Caja Mágica, a venue without stands with capacity for 20,000 people in which attendees were going to be able to enjoy the event on an esplanade.
The Community of Madrid assures that the company requested permission for the event on July 12 and without meeting “in any case the necessary security requirements.” It would have been the Madrid Municipal Police who would have alerted the City Council on the 13th, the same day that the Madrid Puro Reggaeton Festival announced the change of location to the attendees. That same day, the Community of Madrid paralyzed the event and now, four hours after it began, it has announced its official cancellation.
Bad Bunny, at Ifema… that’s how it was going to be in 2020
Some attendees assure laSexta that since it was announced that the event was being postponed to 2021, since it was initially scheduled for June 2020, they have only received two communications. “The last email I have from them is from June 9, 2021, which was to say that it was postponed to 2022. Since then, until Wednesday they sent an email saying that it was postponed from the Caja Mágica to the Metropolitano,” he confirmed. one of the attendees at laSexta.
This young man bought the ticket in February 2020. At that time, the event was going to be for a single day, June 26, at 12:00 noon at the Ifema site in Madrid. In addition, it included two drinks in the first two hours of concerts. The artists were also different from those who later confirmed for the performance at the Wanda Metropolitano: neither Bad Bunny nor Jhay Cortez would be at the event, as was initially stated. In addition, already in 2021, the company continued to maintain on social networks that the artists would be the same and that only, due to inconvenience, they added more performances, extending the festival to two days.
The first communication that this young man received occurred in June 2021. In a statement, they reported that the event would have to be held in June 2022. “Today, mass events are not allowed, since they cannot meet the health requirements. We do not want to put anyone’s health at risk, that’s why we are obliged to postpone the Madrid Puro Reggaeton Festival on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2022″, they detailed then.
They also offered the option of keeping the ticket or returning it for the inconvenience. At the beginning of 2022, Madrid Puro Reggaeton Festival was launched on social networks launching new tickets with new prices and more detailed information about the changes. There it was already reported that the event would start at 4:00 p.m. and would last two days.. However, it was not reported whether the artists would remain the same.
In April 2022, they still held Jhay Cortez as headliner, although there was no information on whether Bad Bunny, one of the most listened to artists in the world on music platforms, would attend. On April 20, without direct communication to the attendees, they published a ‘post’ on Instagram in which they confirmed the attendance of Daddy Yankee in what will be his last tour and the change of dates: It would no longer be June 24 and 25, 2022, but July 15 and 16. “All tickets already purchased are valid,” they said.
However, there was no trace of the drinks and it was reported shortly after that no food or drink could be brought into the venue. A fact that Facua described as “abusive”. The organization denounced ‘With music elsewhere 202 AIE’, the organizing company, understanding that the main activity of the festival is not the hotel industry, so the prohibition was an “abusive clause”.
In April they communicated new dates
Thus, throughout 2022, attendees have been suffering from poor communication and organization of the event in the face of bewilderment over the artists who would finally be confirmed, the location and the time. In fact, just a few weeks after the event, daily tickets went on sale for it, while attendees affirm that throughout 2021 they could only buy the general ticket, which is more expensive.
In social networks, numerous users had criticized the change of dates just three months after the festival with the possible cancellations of routes and inconvenience for the attendees that this entails. However, the changes produced in the last week have increased the tension, causing widespread indignation.
Given this, a wave of users asked the organization through social networks if they would have to stay in the stands or, on the contrary, they could be on the track. The answers already showed the lack of foresight in the organization of the event. “It doesn’t go by seats, it goes by zones”stated the company in response to a user.
The assistants have also denounced in networks the lack of security, since they did not know through which door they could enter the stadiumwhere the bathrooms or catering services were located in a 10-hour festival.
So much so that some users have even started group chats on Whatsapp to file a joint lawsuit with consumer organizations to demand greater responsibility, since the cancellation of the festival at the last minute has caused damage to numerous people who had already purchased tickets. transport and even lodging in the capital.
Statement from the Community of Madrid and the organizing company
As indicated this morning by the Community of Madrid, it would be the Police that have highlighted the security flaws: “The Plan presented by the organization to the Madrid City Council does not meet the necessary security requirements in any case, such and as stated in the report of the Madrid Municipal Police”.
“The organization, after changing the location of the event, which originally intended to take place in the Caja Mágica grounds, applied for a new permit on Monday, July 11. For this type of event, the minimum application period is one month, so it was out of time, “explains the Community of Madrid in the statement.
In addition, they assure that “a report from the Municipal Police of the Madrid City Council indicates that the security measures and the documentation presented by the organization do not meet the necessary requirements, therefore denying the celebration of said event.” This report “was issued by the City Council Wednesday July 13and it is the one that determines the Community of Madrid not to authorize the celebration of the same”, they add.
Specifically, they state that the request is registered on July 12 at 2:46 p.m., when the term is 30 days. In addition, they reflect some of the issues referred to by the Municipal Police, such as “the Mobility plan presented does not refer to the location in which you want to hold the festival” or that “the Civil Liability Insurance presented does not have the correct location, having as address where the Magic Box is located”.
They also state that “it does not present the acoustic exemption to exceed sound levels” and that “in the Self-Protection Plan there are errors in the activity data”.
However, ‘With music elsewhere 202 AIE’, the organizing company, has issued a statement in which they claim to have received the announcement from the Community of Madrid with “surprise, stupor and helplessness” and has stated that the place of the event so that it would be “safer, with better access, better connection to public transport and more space”. Also, afflicts the inconvenience that it can cause in the more than 35,000 people who intended to attend the appointment, in which reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee was expected to say goodbye in Madrid after announcing his retirement from music.
According to the organization, if the deadlines have been exceeded “it is because the Administration has requested more and more documentation and the festival team has needed time to satisfy those requests”. In the statement they allege that everything was ready and that they had already paid the rate for holding events to the Community of Madrid. “We cannot understand or accept that the announcement of preventing the celebration of this festival is due to technical issues”, they add, affirming that “there is a lack of will in the Administration autonomy for this event to take place”.
An extreme that is denied in the regional government, where they ensure that this type of event “is welcome”, but places security as a priority. “The Police report leaves few options,” they have settled.
Source: Lasexta
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
