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Dumbass
No New Year’s Eve at St. Galler Klosterplatz: this year we must avoid the collective cork popping thanks to Corona
Meetings of a maximum of ten people are currently allowed in St. Gallen. Therefore, the city and the canton appeal to the population not to make a pilgrimage to the monastery square on New Year’s Eve and toast at home for the New Year.
This year there should be no such photographs in the monastery square. The city and the canton call to stop the New Year’s Eve celebration.
When the cathedral bells ring in the New Year on Thursday at midnight, the big Christmas fir tree has to celebrate only in the monastery square. The place must remain empty at the turn of the year. As the Canton of St. Gallen State Chancellery announced on Monday, you should not toast at Klosterplatz on New Year’s Eve. There will be no celebration due to Corona.
In recent years, the monastery square had become an increasingly popular meeting place for popping corks in groups, hugging, and joyfully watering the New Year. Hundreds of people gathered in the past at the end of the year in the monastery square to end the old year and greet the new year together. Due to the corona pandemic, this must be avoided this year: due to the current epidemiological situation, this year gatherings of more than ten people in public spaces will be prohibited.
A call to reason
The city and the canton therefore ask the population to toast the New Year in a private and small setting. The State Chancellery writes in its statement:
“To prevent too many people from gathering in small groups in the monastery square on New Year’s Eve, the city and the canton of San Galo appeal to reason.”
The city and the canton urge the population to stay at home in general and not to the monastery square. There is also a maximum limit of ten people for meetings in private settings. Anyone who can should skip the physical meetings at once.
Some had waited until the end that the popular New Year’s date in the monastery square could still take place. Because the monastery square is large and offers a lot of space, and it is outside, where the risk of infection by the coronavirus is lower. Instead, the new year should be celebrated at home in the small quiet room, with as little company as possible.
If too many come anyway, the city police intervene.
It is an appeal, but not a prohibition, to celebrate in the monastery square. “Closing the square on New Year’s Eve is not feasible for logistical reasons,” says Philipp Egger, Head of IT and Infrastructure in Canton of St. Because then any group would switch to the alleys around, which is also not ideal. However, if too many people arrive at Klosterplatz despite the appeal, the city police must intervene, according to Egger.
This will be present on New Years Eve with a larger lineup across the city center, as Dionys Widmer, a spokeswoman for the city police, said upon request. Because bars and clubs are already closed due to Corona, emergency services assumed that the city will generally attract fewer party guests than in previous years.
In recent years, the monastery square was not the only point in the city where large numbers of people gathered. Various places on the city’s hills were popular, such as the hillside below Dreilinden, the Falkenburg area, Solitüde or Lindeli.
Dionys Widmer, spokeswoman for the city of St. Gallen police.
City police patrols would also rely on New Year’s Eve as well as the spring closure and awareness raising and dialogue to prevent or, if necessary, break up gatherings of more than ten people. If that doesn’t help, the incorrigibles are denounced, says Widmer. In recent years, the weather has also determined how many people in the city celebrated New Year’s Eve.
As in previous years, it is strictly forbidden to light fireworks in the monastery square. “The entire monastery district is a sensitive place in terms of culture and construction history,” writes the State Chancellery in its announcement. Fireworks and bangers are a great danger to the beautiful Unesco world cultural heritage buildings.
As in previous years, fireworks are taboo in the monastery square.
Therefore, as in previous years, there is a security service and fire guards on site. “You keep an eye on the Klosterplatz, but also on what’s going on around it,” says Egger. Because even the fireworks that are lit everywhere could be a danger to the monastery.
