With 400 iron railings and endless meters of rope, municipality teams started to fence the famous promenade of Thessaloniki, the New Beach or Νέα Παραλία, after thousands allegedly flooded it again over the weekend to enjoy the warm, sunny spring days.
The promenade will be closed to public from the statue of Votsi and the White Tower to the Megaron Music Hall while access to some surrounding streets leading to it will be also prohibited.
Access to Nea Paralia will be allowed only 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on working days and will be completely closed over the weekend.
The promenade will be closed Monday to Friday from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. the following morning. On Saturday and Sunday it will be completely closed
The measure is on effect at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 and for 14 days.
The ban is implemented independently of whether citizens have a written Lockdown Movement Permit or an sms from <13033>.
According to state broadcaster ERT TV, today, Tuesday, police will advise the citizens of Thessaloniki about the ban but as of tomorrow, April 1, the fines of 150 euros will be imposed to any violator.
The closure comes after a relevant request by Mayor Costas Zervas and the Regional Governor to the Civil Protection on Monday evening.
Speaking to Skai TV, Zervas described the measure as “painful.” He added that the pandemic is “a war” and stressed that everyone should be self-contained.
“We close the promenade in order to protect the public health. The measures of social distancing are absolutely important,” he said.
“I hope we were not late, but the idea that we would have summer with thousands of people in the promenade made us take restrictive measures … A minority can do the damage,” he stressed.
Head of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias said that “despite repeated recommendations for limited and only vital movements, unfortunately our appeal was not understood. Failure to comply with restricted movement and rules bring new, unfortunately, more stringent measures.”
Media report on Tuesday that Greek authorities are considering to further tighten lockdown measures and restrict citizens’ movements as “some have been found to go out even six times per day.”
PS I wrote “allegedly” flooded the promenade because on social media some users doubt the originality of videos from the promenade broadcast by some TV channels on Sunday.
