Mayors: Allow more outside activities, lockdown cannot be maintained

The current coronavirus lockdown is getting harder and harder to keep up, according to Hubert Bruls, chairman of the Security Council and mayor of Nijmegen. The government must relax measures within a few weeks, and then start by making more outside activities possible again, he said in an interview with AD.

According to Bruls, the overcrowded parks in various cities and restaurants' determination to open their terraces show that people are struggling to maintain the coronavirus measures. On Thursday, Amsterdam had to close the Vondelpark because of a spontaneous and crowded party. Police also had to intervene in Nijmegen.

Mayors are having to accept that people are outside in an unregulated way, Bruls said. "We can do nothing else but allow it to become somewhat crowded. I understand very well that after 11 months, the support for the corona measures has decreased. Every measure is becoming worn out. We no longer punish and enforce 100 percent," he said.

Bruls hopes the government will relax more measures within the coming weeks. "We can hold on a while longer. But to be honest, I also find it difficult to explain why the hairdressers are allowed to open and the terraces are not."

He did warn the catering industry in Nijmegen that action will be taken against them if they open against the rules on Tuesday. Other mayors on the Security Council, which consists of the mayors that head the 25 security regions in the Netherlands, issued similar warnings.