Index – Domestic – No signs of life

A completely empty center, where only occasionally a person appears in the distance, where taxi drivers can search for passengers in vain, while the silence is broken only by the clearly audible barking of the dogs and the singing of the birds. It is Saturday night in Kecskemét, but there are no signs of life. And all this may be because

According to the prohibition

• from Friday at midnight to Saturday at six in the morning,
• Saturday night from ten to Sunday morning at six,
• Sunday night between ten and midnight

Staying in public places in Kecskemét is prohibited, except those who work or go to a pharmacy, who may need urgent medical attention.

The city’s Fidesz mayor, Klaudia Szemerey Pataki, posted it on Facebook and, in addition to the curfew, stipulated that people must stay two meters away when, for example, they go out to play sports or walk a dog, and those over 65 to the local market. on weekends they can go between ten and noon in the morning.

He also adds in the publication that the police, the city police and the civil guard will ensure that the Kecskemét people comply with these restrictions.

For the long weekend of Easter, the powers of the mayors have expanded to take restrictive corrective measures. Encouraged by their success, the government has announced that mayors will also receive these licenses this weekend. And they lived with him, as they did last time, just like the mayor of Kecskemét.

In the case, we asked the mayor’s office why it was necessary to impose a curfew, to which they replied that the majority of Kecskemét had complied with the restrictions so far, but friends and neighbors gathered on the streets “continue to use the habitual forms of greeting and maintain social distance “. without them they talk at length. ”

The biggest problem, on the other hand, is more with young people because they are more likely to group together. According to the agency

There will be no sanctions if someone does not comply with the prohibition:

Since there has been no real curfew in Hungary since time immemorial, we wonder how it works in practice not to be able to stay in the public areas of the city, how many people observe it and, if not, how much punishment the police impose. .

Following in the footsteps of young people

The highway to Kecskemét is almost completely empty, but when we arrive in the city at nine o’clock on Saturday night, it is very clear:

Since gas stations are always open even during an emergency, we even stop at the first with only one car parked in the driveway, probably the one that also works there. He says that while during the ban, the people of Kecskemét can only go outside for work or in an emergency, they will still be there until dawn. He doesn’t know the answer as to why the mayor could have made such a decree, but if it really is for the youth,

They’ll find a place to party anyway.

So we keep crawling towards the center to see if we can catch those gangsters when in Szabadság Square, the so-called Coat of Arms, we don’t know yet, but the biggest thrill of the night will be that: a police car goes through the pedestrian zone smoothly and then disappears around the corner.

Around ten out of every quarter we catch two cyclists, inaugurate the cultural customs of local youth, that is, in which tobacco shop do minors ask older adults to buy cigarettes, or in which park are they going to board. They also tell him that the area is full of people anyway, and then when he says goodbye they also show that if he stands at a certain point next to the Great Church, his click will resonate strangely.

At half past ten, an older couple appears a second time, walking in the same striped T-shirt on the sidewalk with tulips by Rákóczi út. They also claim that the city is full at other times, but now let’s take a look, nothing. Anyway, they are walking for health, by the way, and they also suspect that young people are at the bottom of regulation.

It’s only a few minutes to ten at night, but the park next to the train station is also deserted, with only a completely empty local bus passing us. Beyond the rails, you can hear dog barking, no sound breaks the barking. We also see a smaller playground in the corner, but the set is surrounded by a red and white striped ribbon with a piece of paper with the mayor’s name on it:

In view of the Covid-19 epidemic, I prohibit the use of the playground.

At ten o’clock at night, a couple is still sitting on a bench, still seeing a man walking dogs, and a cyclist is coming out from under one of the buildings, even though the decree is already alive at first.

But after ten minutes, there is only a crying silence in the city,

Although, according to the mayor’s entry, the Civil Guard also ensures that the restrictions are followed, a car passes us without saying a word. They did not stop, they did not warn about the ban, they just watched and continued.

Even around a quarter to eleven, we meet a young woman who just took her two dogs for a walk. When asked if he knows that the ban is already in full swing, he replies:

He then adds that he sees no point in making a decree so late at night, when there is less anyway and there are crowds in stores every day.

For the next hour and a half, we’ll have sausages to and from downtown, but we’ll only see a police car from a distance. On the other hand, we meet two guys several times who seem to really enjoy the empty city: perhaps they entertain themselves by calling strangers’ apartments and then running away.

So it seems that the curfew works in Kecskemét, in the bustling city center, you can hardly ever catch people, during our time there we only saw a few cyclists and motorists. The mayor’s office was unable to answer our question on Saturday about how many people have been punished for raping her so far, so they will also receive the numbers on Monday. There was also no response on whether the decree would be banned again if the decree went into effect and the government extended the mayors’ permits to next weekend as well. The answer to this is that if the people of Kecskemét follow the rules correctly, perhaps they will open the previously closed excursion sites, because “everyone needs free air, movement, but this requires that they not group together.”

(Cover image: Kecskemét center last night. Photo: Huszti István / Index)