The masking obligation now applies for a little over a week at the Albert Cuyp, but at least half of the visitors does not seem to care. Entrepreneurs also see nothing in the obligation: they support summary proceedings against the municipality, which are scheduled for Monday.
–
For a sunny day it is very quiet on the Albert Cuyp market. About half of the visitors wear a face mask and supervisors occasionally walk down the street. “This is dramatic,” says street manager Antoinette Poortvliet. According to her, more and more people are ignoring the market since wearing a mouth mask is mandatory.
The people who do walk around without a cap often do not know about the rules or simply do not follow them and risk the fine. Two women do have masks in their bags, but they don’t put them on anyway: ‘It’s so quiet now. I would definitely put it on on a busy Saturday, but I’m like … no. ‘
–
Market trader and board member of the Albert Cuyp Entrepreneurs Association Edwin Kenter also does not wear a face mask. ‘I am here in the heat for ten hours a day, breaking with a mouth mask. I will not do it.’ In addition, according to him, a meter and a half distance can be ‘whistled’.
Also not particularly beneficial is the fact that enforcement hardly occurs, if at all. People who do not wear a mouth mask will initially be held accountable for their behavior. The chance that you will be fined is therefore virtually nil. If you are still thrown on the coupon, according to UvA professor, it is not legally valid and the fine will be waived.
‘In the beginning it was full of police here, but now you don’t see them anymore. I have just seen enforcement, but they themselves ran without masks, ‘says Kenter. ‘At the same time, they ask small entrepreneurs, who are here in thirty degrees plus, to wear masks,’ adds Poortvliet.
The Virus Truth action group has now filed summary proceedings against the municipality. That serves Monday. The group finds the duty to mask ‘a fundamental restriction of fundamental rights’. Several market traders on the Albert Cuyp are now joining this, in the hope of getting rid of the masking duty.
–
