The restaurant owners of the Casablanca Corniche, who believed they were beyond the reach of the law, would have to submit to a strict application of the law. Indeed, Abdellatif Hammouchi, director of the DGST-DGSN pole, has launched a “clean hands” operation towards the upmarket restaurant addresses in Casablanca.
These addresses thought they were above the law, violating all the measures that were introduced during the state of health emergency.
Failure to respect the closing hours, set at 11 p.m. for restaurants. Alcohol served in abundance, without the obligation to order food. Guests are not provided with protective masks. Distance measures are not respected. Music at full volume, like in a nightclub.
As a result, there has been a very worrying increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the largest city in the Kingdom, and the health system has become saturated.
This “clean hands” operation is directed by Abdellatif Hammouchi, according to an authorized source. It involves several bars, headed by the Tahiti Beach complex, the hotel La Côte, which has turned the restaurant into several square bars, the restaurant Le Cabestan and other prestigious addresses in the economic capital.
“Abdellatif Hammouchi has given his orders to enforce the law on all restaurants, whether they consider themselves untouchable or whether they are located in the Sidi Moumen district,” our source says. He insists that ” the fine of 300 dirhams will be applied to both Sidi Moumen and Ain Diab. We will penalize both the wealthy who consider themselves out of reach and the disadvantaged populations of Sidi Moumen”, our source stresses.
In reaction to the “clean hands” campaign, a local PR agency, connected to one of the restaurants on the Corniche by a promotion contract, has been assigned to launch a campaign to discredit the police services. This agency broadcast its messages in several media, including social networks: the fact that the authorities require to “wear a mask while eating in a restaurant”. A hilarious, surrealistic message, which tries to show the arbitrariness of an instruction that is impossible to apply, since it is not possible to eat or drink with a protective mask over your mouth.
This campaign is an ugly and vain propaganda, which will only strengthen the authorities in their determination to apply the law. Contrary to what this PR agency has stated, it has never been a question of demanding that a person at a table wear a mask, but of imposing that he or she has it and that he or she be able to show it. Many customers get out of their cars without a mask and walk around the restaurant bare-faced. Worse: waiters and barmaids sometimes don’t wear masks either.
It is this carelessness that is causing the strategy against Covid-19 to fail. Obviously, this will change, because there will now be zero tolerance for restaurant owners who thought they were breaking the law with absolute freedom. As for the restaurants that apply the law and respect the sanitary instructions, and fortunately there are some in Casablanca, they are not concerned by the campaign ordered by Abdellatif Hammouchi. For the greater good of their customers.
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