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The group of nine restaurant and nightclub businessmen who are today on the third day of their hunger strike guaranteed that they will only leave the front of the Assembly of the Republic when the Government presents a solution, or “by ambulance.”
Lisbon woke up cold and rainy but, in front of the Assembly of the Republic, a group of nine businessmen from restaurants and nightclubs, sectors affected by the covid-19 pandemic and by the measures adopted to contain it, remain camped, in improvised facilities with tents and heaters, on a hunger strike until the government receives them to seek solutions for their businesses, which they say are going to be ruined.
“We only get out of here with the intervention of the State, or by ambulance, otherwise I don’t get out of here, nobody gets out of here,” said João Sotto Mayor, a restaurant entrepreneur, who said he was representing those sectors, which “are, literally bread and water. “
“They are ignoring us, we are hungry, we are cold. Yesterday at five in the morning there was a great storm here. It is a lack of respect for all these individuals who have invested their entire lives, ”said the businessman, noting that at this time there are family restaurants that cannot survive.
The group, made up of eight men and one woman, is received by people who pass through the camp set up in São Bento and leave them bottles of water and tea, as well as words of strength and gratitude for fighting for the catering sectors . , discos and bars, culture, events, accommodation and taxis.
“I just want to get out of here,” said João Sotto Mayor, moved. Also participating in the protest is the spokesman for the Survive Bread and Water movement, José Gouveia, who told Lusa that they receive daily messages from people who are closing their businesses. “Right now the economy is collapsing, in a month we are talking about 110 thousand more workers who are going to be laid off,” said José Gouveia.
“We are here as an option to go on a hunger strike, tomorrow, surely, there are people on hunger strike because they don’t have enough to eat,” he lamented.
Clubs for nine months without euro
On Wednesday, that movement organized a demonstration, also in front of the Assembly of the Republic, which brought together several hundred people who asked the Government to let them work or, if there is no possibility, non-reimbursable support to cover their expenses.
Among them was Alberto Cabral, businessman of the night, representative of the clubs in the north of the country. “We know that we cannot open the clubs, but we need support, because we have been without a solidarity euro for nine months, so we decided now, after this demonstration, to go on a hunger strike. I already came from Vila Real with this idea, I didn’t want to go back to Vila Real without having something to tell me that I’m going to have a Christmas worthy of a Portuguese ”, he said. The businessman maintains that this sector urgently needs non-reimbursable support, because it is undercapitalized, after several months without income.
“When [o primeiro-ministro] António Costa says that he is doing these two confinement weekends to prepare for Christmas, I ask him what Christmas he is preparing for the owners of the clubs and for the DJs too, what our Christmas will be. that is preparing, because we really do not have money, “he lamented.
On November 16, the Surviving Bread and Water movement addressed a request for an audience to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro. Siza Vieira.
Of the three requests sent, only the “email” sent to the Presidency received a response and on Friday a hearing was held with representatives of the movement, Ljubomir Stanisic, José Gouveia and Manuel Salema.
Last week, the Government announced measures to contain the covid-19 pandemic for the new period of the state of emergency: on the eve of holidays, commerce closes at 3:00 p.m. in 127 counties of the continent classified as “extremely risky “high” and “very high” and the closing hours of shops are maintained at 10 pm and restaurants and cultural facilities at 10.30 pm in these regions and in other 86 considered “high risk”.
On the 14th of this month, the Minister of Economy said that the exceptional support to the restaurants of the municipalities covered by the state of emergency to compensate for the loss of income in these two weekends will be illuminated up to 25 million euros and will be paid in December.
The data provided by the minister indicate that of the 750 million euros contemplated in the Apoiar.pt program – non-reimbursable support to micro and small companies in the sectors most affected by the crisis with billing losses greater than 25% -, 200 million euros will be absorbed by the restaurant sector.
