The announcement in Belgium that the reopening of the hospitality sector is limited to its terraces, and only as of May 8 instead of the initially announced May 1, generated complaints, both from sector as well as some mayors, willing to not respect the norm.

That decision, adopted this week by the authorities in the fight against covid-19, has had the effect of gasoline on the fire of disobedience that began to ignite weeks ago through videos on social networks of restaurateurs announcing their intention to reopen on May 1, despite fines or legal proceedings.

The unrest situation is such that it has forced the Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, and his Interior Minister, Annelies Verliden, to intervene to ask hoteliers and mayors to respect the decisions adopted last Wednesday, including some relaxation of the strict measures against the pandemic.

“Everyone has to keep a cool head. Let’s see what we have done in a year. We were able to control a third wave that some predicted would be exponentia. Are we going to jeopardize all that for a waiting period of eight days?” De Croo claimed last night on the public network RTBF.

The difference between May 1 or 8 is that in that interval half a million people can be vaccinated, De Croo said, after recalling that the pressure is still high in hospitals.

“As of May 8, it will be possible to do more, especially outdoors,” tweeted Verlinden, calling for “respecting the measures” because “this is the only way to limit the spread of the virus.”

Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke was tougher in dismissing the message from dissident mayors as “especially cowardly”, alluding to those of Liège, Namur and Middelkerke.

In different local media, some mayors, such as Jean-Marie Dedecker from the coastal town of Middelkerke, in the Flanders region, said that they are tired of waiting, while others claimed that they had no means to prevent them from opening the terraces.

This is the case of Willy Demeyer, mayor of Liège, in the Wallonia region, who assured that he lacks staff and that the police “do not want to repress people who have a drink.”

Nor does the mayor of Namur, Maxime Prévot, imagine ordering the police to close all the terraces on May 1: How to explain to people that they can go for a picnic in a park but not sit on a terrace? “, he asked himself.

In Wallonia, which is where this movement of disobedience seems to be having the most echo in the restaurant sector, the Minister of Local Government, Christophe Collignon, considered that “the role of a mayor is not to pour oil on the fire and call for disobedience civil”, although he understands that” they are under a lot of pressure “because” the population is tired”, after enduring strict confinement since last October, with closed non-essential shops, a curfew and very limited social relations.

Among the new measures, the gradual reopening of schools on Monday 19 and the end of the ban on non-essential travel stands out, although they are strongly discouraged.

On April 26, all shops will open, and from May 8, in addition to reopening the terraces, some sporting or cultural activities may be resumed on a limited basis.

And on June 1, measures will continue to be relaxed depending on the rate of vaccination and the evolution of infections.

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