May 1 under lockdown: Traditional barbecues and mini vacations to the seaside off this year due to COVID-19

If in previous years Romanians used to take parks and forests by storm to have the traditional barbecue on May 1 when Labour Day is celebrated, or to go to the seaside for the May 1 mini vacation to mark the start of the summer season, this year the roads, forests and parks were empty due to the restrictions prompted by the coronavirus lockdown.

The Sun Motorway, the highway that links Bucharest to the Romanian Black Sea coast, was pretty clear today. If in the past years the motorway was extremely crowded in the early hours of the morning with people rushing to the seaside, today traffic police patrols deployed on the scene were carefully monitoring every car on the road, to check if drivers had affidavits and if their reasons to leave the locality are well grounded.

The few drivers on the Sun Motorway said they were going to work and that they chose to drive on the highway to save time and to get faster.

The traffic on the highway was also monitored by drones.

in Bucharest, Baneasa Forest, once full of people and barbecues on May 1, was empty, likewise the city and subway stations.

Bucharesters were seen mostly to market, with Obor Market being particularly crowded.

Authorities have repeatedly warning the population in the past weeks to stay home and to give up traditional May 1 barbecues and mini vacations, arguing we might have a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections.

Police has underlined that they will no tolerate any misconduct from the social distancing rules. Fines are ranging from RON 2,000 to RON 20,000.

barbecuescarscoronavirusCOVID-19highwaylabour daylockdownmay 1mini vacationsoffqueuesseasidesocial distancingsun motorwaytraditionaltraffic police
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