The violent visitors raising hell on Catalonia's Costa Brava

Lloret de Mar, a resort town on the Costa Brava, has turned into a popular place for French youngsters in search of weekend fun. Residents and shopkeepers are used to the tensions generated by this massive influx of tourists, but acknowledge they are now scared by a group they call "problematic" and, in some cases, "dangerous." Incidents are frequent, but they had never been as serious as on July 18: 15-year-old Andrew Milroy was stabbed to death by a young French man after getting involved in a fight, according to the friends who were with him at the time. The details of the case have not been disclosed due to a court order.

The owner of a bar located across the seafront, who asked not to be identified, explained that "you see four or five top-of-the-range vehicles, with music at full blast, gangster style. Before, they used to come only for New Year's Eve, but now they are here every weekend."

"Before they came only for New Year's Eve, but now they are here every weekend"

"Andrew was in the wrong place, at the wrong time," says his mother

The French youngsters are feared at the town's nightspots

Other residents say that the youths drive the cars at top speed along the seafront, as if it were a Formula 1 circuit. "We have a healthy respect for them here, we don't get mixed up with them," he admits.

Despite the ostentatious vehicles, the youngsters do not carry much money. The cars are their homes. They change clothes in them and sleep in them after parties. "At 8am you see them all sleeping in the Punta Marina," says a receptionist at the Don Juan hotel, from where the police were notified on the night Andrew Milroy died. After the tragic incident, the Mayor Rom¨¤ Codina (of the CiU party) said he was "worried" about this type of troublesome tourism. The town council expressed its condolences to the Milroy family.

"Andrew was in the wrong place, at the wrong time," says Jackie Milroy, his mother, while she serves the clients at the Route 66 bar, a beachfront fast-food establishment she opened with her husband three years ago in Lloret. Although both of them are British - Andy is from Glasgow and Jackie, from London - they have been living in Lloret for more than 20 years. Andrew and his sister Carla, who is 11 years old, were born in the hospital in Blanes.

They did not take long before re-opening the bar. "We have to keep working," they explain while Carla and her dad prepare a wreath with the boy's name, which they plan to put on the grave. Sometimes, the parents still refer to them as "the kids," as if Andrew were still alive. He was in his fourth year of secondary school at the Inmaculada Concepci¨®n religious school. He liked rap and practiced taekwondo. His parents are Catholic and believe that religion will help them bear the pain of losing a son.

Andrew had tried to act as a mediator in the fight. One of the witnesses explained that one of his friends, who was going back home with him that night (it was nearly 4am), got into a fight with four Frenchmen from the Maghreb. Andrew tried to separate them, but was stabbed in the chest. He died soon after in the hospital in Blanes. Andrew's friends have left candles and messages of condolence at the scene of the crime.

Jackie admits that the police will have a "hard time" finding the perpetrators. "At 7am they could have already been in France."

The mayor, who attended a minute of silence in honor of Andrew, admits that some of the youngsters who come to Lloret from southern France are "somewhat violent," so "we have to be careful."

Codina says the council has strengthened surveillance at the entrance of the town. Policemen stop cars, and check tourists are not traveling with illegal substances.

The French youngsters are particularly feared at the town's nightspots. "These people are very dangerous," says Oriol, who works as a bouncer at a local nightclub. "When we have to force them to leave the club, we have to be really careful. Sometimes they even come with baseball bats or penknives.

"We shouldn't mess with them," he adds.

Francisco Melchor, a waiter who works at Caf¨¦ Kayak and was involved in a fight with some French youngsters last year, shares that opinion. "They were really drunk when they came in, and I refused to serve them," he says. "I told them to leave and they hit me. It seems they come here looking for trouble."

Lloret de Mar is the second most popular tourist destination in Catalonia, with more than a million visitors passing through every year.