German tourists, street vendors brawl in Mallorca

The "Mallorca Zeitung," a German-language outlet, reported Saturday that a street brawl occurred Friday evening near the seaside Ballermann party district, which is notorious for binge drinking. About 30 men were involved.

Witnesses spoke of alarming brutality during the fight outside the "Megapark" pub, saying that even people lying on the ground had been hit and stomped on.

In the end, 10 German tourists were taken to the hospital. It wasn't clear whether any of the street vendors were injured - they fled the scene when police arrived.

The "Mallorca Zeitung" reported it was difficult for the police to gather witness statements because all of the German holidaymakers were so heavily intoxicated, they could barely string a sentence together.

The Spanish island of Mallorca is a holiday destination so popular among Germans it's jokingly referred to as Germany's "17th state." But the reputation for raucous behavior among international tourists - Germans and others - there has sparked a crackdown on binge drinking.

It wasn't yet clear what had sparked Friday night's fight between the tourists and the street vendors, who are most often young African men selling sunglasses and other novelty items to passersby.

An in-depth piece by the "Mallorca Zeitung" from 2013 questioned whether a mix of alcohol, "latent racism" and frustration over frequent approaches by mainly Senegalese sellers was leading to such situations getting out of control.