For the second year running the famous Drumming Festival on the beach at Benirras has been banned by the Mayor of San Juan. This annual event has taken place every 28th August and grown and grown in popularity each year with crowds of 4 to 5000 attending. Unfortunately its success proved its downfall and as the mayor said, it is not a legal gathering and the damage done to the environment by so many people in an enclosed space, and the amount of rubbish left behind, made the festival untenable. The Guardia Civil took up positions in the early afternoon, setting up roadblocks on all access roads to the beach, only allowing local residents access to the area and carefully sifting out anybody suspected of being a bongo player!. Hopefully a truce can be drawn that will enable this much loved festival to continue without the alleged resulting environmental damage.