Police also charged two businesses for opening when - according to the regulations - they should have stayed closed. One of them was a bar, and - under the state of emergency regulations - those are definitely supposed to be closed:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"In terms of business establishment that were open that were not supposed to be opened, I know the Shanti Store in Corozal was charged for opening whole he should be closed. On the 2nd May we have a number of business establishments that were open on Albert Street that were not supposed to open and we quickly close them down. There were some confusion on their part and so we quickly close them down and told them that they could not open, because the law did not permit them, but some adjustments were made since then to the law and so they were allowed to open this morning. But again, we continue to go after the business establishments that open that should not be open and I can tell you that many of these establishments are owned by Asian business persons and a few owned by Belizeans."
Reporter
"Many people misunderstood the regulations right, so were the police too hasty to charge persons? I saw in downtown Belize City they very courteously informed a lot of business owners that they had to be closed - a lot of general merchants that they had to be closed and it was quite civil and rational. In the cases where businesses were charged, were those officers too hasty? $5,000 is not a little bit of money."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"No, they were not. These are businesses that were clearly in violation. If it is that we know that there was some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the law then we don't charge, like in the case as you rightly alluded on Albert Street. But when you have a bar - it was clear that a bar should not be open. We have a situation in Belmopan where a barber shop owner was charged because he had I think about 9 persons in the barber shop, when the law is clear."
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