Owners of bars and restaurants in the coastal city of Vlora have closed down their businesses earlier today, as a sign of protest against the restrictions put in place by the government due to the pandemic. PM Edi Rama reacted by saying that the government’s plan won’t change and that the curfew for music will only be pushed back by one hour after July 20^th. Through a post on Twitter, Rama said that there won’t be any changes to the plan notified since the beginning of the tourist season:

“As we’ve announced, from July 20^th, music will be turned off at 23:00 p.m., in every residential tourist area and whoever wants to sing and dance they can do that all night if they want, but they need to organize in nature, in sites where they don’t disturb anyone – like they do in the entire civilized tourist world,” wrote Rama on his personal Facebook account.

Around 90 businesses along the Lungomare promenade in Vlora will be closed for 24 hours. The business owners are asking that the current 22:00 p.m. time limit for music, determined by the government after consulting with the Technical Committee of Experts, be pushed back because it is damaging their businesses at the peak of the tourist season.

The closure of bars and restaurants started early Monday morning, as a result of last night’s clashes between several citizens and the police.

The clashes with the police began after bars were asked to turn off their music, to which many decided to respond to by playing the national anthem. This has been the reason that sparked the debates that led to the police fining the administrators of these bars with 1 million ALL.

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