The city of Seville has announced plans to charge tourists for visiting its most famous square, the Plaza de España, in future.
"We are planning to close off the Plaza de España and charge tourists a fee to finance the maintenance of the square and guarantee its safety," wrote the mayor of the southern Spanish metropolis, José Luis Sanz, on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
However, access will remain free for residents of Seville and all those born in the city, he said.
Sanz did not specify the planned amount of the entrance fee or a possible date for its introduction.
The conservative politician's plan was immediately criticized and met with outrage not only online, but also by politicians in Seville.
The city council group of the social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) "firmly rejects the privatization of public space," spokesman Antonio Muñoz was quoted as saying in the newspaper Diario de Sevilla on Monday. It could only be a "joke," he said.
"Nobody would think of closing off St Mark's Square in Venice or the Plaza Mayor in Madrid," Muñoz stressed, adding that in the "capital" of flamenco and tapas, an overnight-stay tax for tourists, as already levied by other cities, could make more sense.
Spokespeople from the left-wing central government in Madrid also announced measures to prevent the square from being cordoned off.
The Plaza de España is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Andalusian capital, which is characterized by Moorish, Roman and Christian influences.
The imposing 50,000-square-metre semi-circular square was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition in 1929 and is intended to symbolize, among other things, Spain's embrace of the former Latin American colonies.