By Joanna Plucinska and Kuba Stezycki
WARSAW (Reuters) – Police visited Maciej Adamski’s restaurant north of the Polish capital 16 times in 10 days and told him he had to close his shop due to coronavirus restrictions, but Adamski is not convinced that this is strictly correct is.
His restaurant, Qlturalni Qlinarni Q&Q, serves traditional Polish dishes, the walls decorated with guitars and other instruments.
“Don’t be afraid,” he told Reuters on a lunch break, surrounded by less than half a dozen customers. “All (restaurants) should open because these restrictions are not enforceable.
“… We open and survive or we all close. Everything we’ve worked for so many years will just disappear.”
Poland relaxed a number of restrictions across the country on Monday: shopping centers are allowed to open and gyms and restaurants must remain closed.
But according to the Polish Gastronomic Chamber of Commerce, up to 20,000 restaurants are expected to open anyway without adequate financial backing and ambiguity about the now enforceable lockdown laws.
Adamski convicted police for robbing a nightclub in the southern town of Rybnik over the weekend. They used tear gas and batons against clients, according to media reports, but he said he was not concerned about similar actions against him.
A police spokeswoman in Rybnik did not immediately respond to calls and text requests for comment.
To mitigate the effects of the pandemic, Poland launched a multi-billion zloty support scheme for businesses. But Adamski said the support didn’t last long enough.
“If it were the same as in other countries of the European Union, we would close quietly and we would have nothing to worry about,” he said. “But what we have today is a tragedy.”
A government spokesman did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the financial aid offered.
Gyms face a similar dilemma, with the Polish Fitness Federation claiming that the existing restrictions in Poland were confusing at first and therefore easy to get around.
“If the law is weird, sometimes in a funny way, sometimes in a way that is unclear, and we can operate in it, then we will,” said federation chief Tomasz Napiorkowski.
He said the federation would seek compensation from the government for the losses suffered and that many gyms will choose to continue working with health measures.
Sebastian Twardowski, 27, wanted to make a point of eating at Qlturalni Qlinarni on Monday, arguing that restaurants needed all the help they could get and that he felt perfectly safe amid measures Adamski had taken to ensure cleanliness and aloofness .
“Here the tables are far from each other, everything is taken care of from a hygienic perspective,” Twardowski told Reuters.
“I think I’m more afraid of going to the store than going to a restaurant.”
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Kuba Stezycki)
Originally published