Municipality police in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, fined with 300 euros street musicians who were playing music and singing with a microphone and amplifiers on the New Beach in front of the White Tower.
The two musicians of the local band “Yilturum” immediately informed the public who were at the time on the New Beach about the fine, noting that despite this development, they would continue to play music.
According to municipality officials the fine was imposed because the musicians were using amplifiers and a microphone which is against the “Regulatory Decision for the New Beach, ADS 85/2025, Article 7 par. 4.
“They fined us 300 euros, we didn’t know anything about it,” songwriter Evangelia Botsi told local media parallaxi.gr about the incident that took place on Sunday, April 19.
“Without any prior warning, they [two municipality police officers] announced to us that they would fine us 300 euros. Normally they would fine us 600 euros. Apparently, it is now illegal even to sing with a microphone on the beach. As they said, microphones on the beach have been banned for months. We didn’t know anything about it, because we saw street musicians on the beach all the time.”
“Installation of loudspeakers is prohibited”, said the deputy mayor for the Protection of Public Areas and Municipal Police, Giorgos Dimarelos.
“We have no issue with street musicians. The installation of loudspeakers is prohibited and initially we recommend that they remove the loudspeakers and if they do not do so we impose a fine. This happens in residential areas and mainly due to complaints from residents.”
Reactions to the incident were mixed, the local media noted.
