Covid in Poland: the rebellion of traders
Audio 02:19
In a restaurant in Bukowina Tatrzanska, in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland, police officers check the customers present on January 18, despite the confinement.
JANEK SKARZYNSKI AFP
By: Sarah Bakaloglou Follow
5 mins
In Poland, more and more restaurants, hotels, ski slopes, bars and sports halls have reopened their doors in recent days ... And this, despite the restrictions to fight against Covid-19, extended to mid-January .
The movement started in the mountains in the south of the country, a region that usually lives off tourism, before spreading to the rest of Poland.
These entrepreneurs criticize the lack of state aid and claim the right to work normally.
Report in the city of Katowice.
Publicity
More than 20 minutes of queuing to get a table, customers refused for lack of space, and overwhelmed waiters ... It had been months since the Poles had seen such a scene and these two customers were delighted: “
We had some. fed up with staying at home, we really wanted to go out by going to a restaurant ... And in addition we study online, we have no interaction with the outside world
”.
At the entrance to the restaurant, near the hydro-alcoholic gel, the waitress distributes a contract to be signed, designating the customer as one of her employees, who has come to test the food, thus preventing the police from entering this place. job.
For the owner Sylwia Herbutt, no choice but to reopen in the face of a critical financial situation, the Polish had to borrow nearly 100,000 euros.
“
After the first lockdown, I tried to find new sources of money to survive on loans, telling myself that I could hold out until the help promised by the government.
But when we realized that we did not meet the criteria, we started looking for other solutions…
”, she explains.
20,000 restaurants reopened
According to the Gastronomic Chamber of Commerce, nearly 20,000 establishments have reopened their doors, a figure denied by the government.
In Katowice, we go to a second restaurant which now welcomes customers.
Its manager says he no longer trusts the government: “
The government told us that we could reopen on January 17, and that did not happen.
We had prepared, we had started to do the accounts, we spent money ... So now reopening is our way of defending ourselves
, he believes
.
The law is on our side.
It is the government that is rebelling, not us
!
"
“
Ah, the police are there with the health authorities
.
The discussion is interrupted by the arrival of the authorities.
The contractors say they are ready to challenge any fines in court, encouraged by a local court ruling that the restrictions are illegal, in the absence of a state of natural disaster declared by the government.
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