A supermarket owner from Utrecht closed his shop on Saturday evening because it was much too busy. “It was really extreme. It was so bad that I decided to close the store immediately ”, says Nawin Harpal from Boon’s Markt Heart of the Netherlands.
When the catering industry closed at 10 p.m., groups of people flocked to the supermarket on the Ganzenmarkt to stock up on drinks. Not just youth, but people of all ages, according to Harpal. “The one and a half meters could no longer be maintained. There was a group of maybe a hundred people at the door. ”
Also read: Supermarkets are also not going to refuse customers without a mask
Busy all weekend
It was already busy at the Harpal supermarket on Friday evening. “At the time, I thought it would just be one day. But Saturday was really a different story. I immediately thought: this is not going to be him. ” And so the supermarket owner decides to close his store early at 10:15 PM.
Harpal also expects large crowds on Sunday evening and that is why Boon’s Markt will close earlier again. “We have a permit to stay open until midnight, but we close at 10 pm.”
Discussions in store
As a result, the entrepreneur misses out on turnover, but prevents him from incurring fines for violating the corona rules. Because they cannot be maintained with so many people, he knows from experience. “They all stand side by side and don’t listen. Enforcers also try to tell them apart, but it just doesn’t work out. And discussions keep arising in the store. ”
Also read: Older people do not want a fixed hour in the supermarket: ‘Stigmatizing’
Harpal wants to contact the councilor on Monday to ask whether anything can be done about the extreme crowds. For example, he is thinking of installing crush barriers. It was also too busy on Saturday evening at Albert Heijn on Potterstraat, in the old post office. Nevertheless, the enforcers there managed to keep the situation manageable.
Six fines
The municipality says behavior in which the corona rules are not complied with “absolutely intolerable”. Six people were fined by municipal enforcers this weekend, dozens of people received a warning from enforcers.
“For the next three weeks, we all have to take responsibility, no matter how difficult.” The municipality says it is also in talks with local entrepreneurs and is looking at options for limiting alcohol sales after 10 p.m.
Much nuisance in Utrecht
For the Utrecht police it was a busy night in the center of the Dom city. Police officers were “very busy with various nuisance reports throughout the city,” police said on Sunday morning.
According to the police, the situation in the Griftpark was “top point”. “A very large group of young people caused nuisance through alcohol consumption, music, not keeping their distance and yelling.” Cops warned the nuisance and sent them away. A number of them kept coming back and got a ticket.
Photo: Koen Laureij
– .
