Date Published: 14/01/2021
ARCHIVED - Hostelry sector ignores request from regional president and hundreds protest in Murcia
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Last night the regional president specifically called for responsible action and banned such gatherings from Thursday onwards
Image: Hostemur
Several hundred restauranteurs, bar owners and hoteliers belonging to the regional hostelry association Hostemur, gathered outside the gates of the headquarters of the Murcian regional government, the San Esteban Palace, in Murcia on Thursday morning, in spite of the comments made by the regional president the evening before expressly requesting that gatherings cease immediately due to the spiralling rate of Coronavirus contagions in the region.
On Wednesday evening the Murcian premier called for a “collective response” from the public to the growing threat of coronavirus, saying “if we all act responsibly, then the measures applied will yield results.”
The latest measures imposed by the regional government from today onwards expressly forbid any type of social contact either inside or outside of the domestic environment and requests that gatherings of any non-essential nature do not take place at all.
The regional premier has expressly asked mayors throughout the region to cancel any type of organised event or gathering and has requested that cultural and social events be cancelled due to the spiralling rate of contagions and the pressure on the health service.
78% of contagions over the festive period have been traced back to sociable activities, such as meeting friends or family for a drink, and then taking the contagion back home to the family environment and for this specific reason the bars and restaurants in 36 municipalities have been closed completely for the moment.
The decision will once again be reviewed on Monday, but it is highly likely that hostelries in the remaining nine municipalities will also be forced to close.
Hostemur called the protest under the slogan 'Rodea San Esteban', demanding a further rescue plan that will allow the establishments to survive the third closure in ten months. Hostemur President, Jesús Jiménez, maintains that the 4,000 – 13,000 euro aid ceded by the regional government to alleviate the losses caused by the temporary closures of November “did not reach many establishments or pay the rent or the electricity bill of even one month".
The association predicts the closure of 30% of hostelry establishments after this third wave and insists that the measures taken to combat the pandemic are "criminalizing" the sector.
The gathering was only able to take place as the BORM detailing the new restriction had not yet been published, although many eyebrows have been raised that it took place at all given the request of the regional president that any planned activities such as this be immediately suspended due to the risk of spreading the virus.