The Mayor does not see any need for fining people, yet
Mayor Koen Schuiling of Groningen is reasonably satisfied with the way in which residents of Groningen are adhering to the official advice to keep a distance of 1.5 meters between people.
According to the mayor, although there have been some incidents where people did not comply with the regulations, in general things are going well, and therefore no fines need to be paid at present.
In an interview with broadcaster RTV Noord, Mayor Schuiling states that he thinks it is too early to issue fines to people who do not keep a distance of one and a half meters from each other.
He said that there were some incidents over the weekend of people not following guidance, but after people were approached by enforcers they dispersed.
Schuiling, who is chairman of the Groningen Safety Region, states that he thinks it is very important that there is popular support for the policy of keeping distance.
He is “not interested in ruining that support” by already writing out fines. Maybe that will prove to be necessary in the future, but for the time being he wants to try to persuade the people, he said.
Schuiling announces that the markets in Groningen will have more space between stalls. “We consulted with the market master and the market vendors, and decided to further separate the stalls. Then it becomes easier to keep your distance. “
Image via the Gemeente Groningen
