Hundreds protest at President’s Office to demand restaurant reopening

Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the
President’s Office in Kyiv throughout the weekend to demand relaxed quarantine
conditions for their business sectors. In particular, restaurateurs set up
dozens of tables as a summer terrace on Bankova Street to demand that
restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating be allowed to reopen. They held
signs protesting the unequal rules, citing the example of a Kyiv restaurant
owned by an MP with the pro-presidential People’s Servant party being allowed
to service clients. On May 1, dozens of small and medium entrepreneurs gathered
at the Lviv City Council building to demand relaxation of quarantine measures
in what they consider to be favorable treatment to big business. The severe
quarantine, imposed on Mar. 12, has left them unable to pay salaries and rent,
as reported by the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news agency. They demanded
reopening immediately in exchange for upholding sanitary requirements.

The Health Ministry of Ukraine is currently preparing
a list of temporary sanitary requirements for hair and beauty salons, home
improvement shops, cafes, car washes, law and notary offices, and other small
businesses for when they are scheduled for reopening as of May 12, Chief
Medical Officer Viktor Liashko wrote in a Facebook post on May 2.

Coronavirus infections rose by 418 cases, or 3.5%,
from the prior day to a total of 12,331 as of noon, May 4, according to the
Center for Public Health of the Health Ministry of Ukraine. An estimated 303 people
have died from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, an increase of
15 cases from the prior day. Recovered patients reached 1,619 cases.

Zenon Zawada: Businesses don’t want to wait until May 12, when the severe quarantine
will enter the first phase of relaxation. Even then, the loosened restrictions
will apply to some businesses and not others, a policy that will continue to
draw protests for being unfair. The fact that shops and cafes quietly reopened
this weekend in the largest cities, particularly Kyiv and Odesa, indicates that
the protest has taken on a passive and silent form. So are the reports that
more people are shedding their masks. This is a risk of another outbreak of the
coronavirus, though the likelihood is difficult to assess.