Operators within the entertainment industry feel “cheated” by way of how things were organised and handled in Ħamrun, Deputy President of the Chamber of SMEs, Philip Fenech, told The Malta Independent.

Hundreds of people gathered in Ħamrun on Thursday evening in an activity which was also given extensive live coverage on PBS, Net and One.

The gathering of a huge crowd in Ħamrun for the belated celebrations of the Premier League victory sparked indignation on the social media.

“I have been inundated with calls from operators in the entertainment industry. I know how much expense they have been carrying to keep to compliance with a lot of checks from health and everyday officials,” he said.

Fenech remarked that some of these establishments were even reprimanded, while others asked to temporarily close because of these infringements.

The infringements of Covid-19 protocols were such because “they are in an industry which are very difficult to control”, Fenech remarked, but he said that the organisers took it on the chin. “Fair enough, the regulation is there, and although they had good intentions, they carried the burden of it.” 

However, the deputy president of SMEs remarked that these operators were left fuming that such a swift response to disperse crowds did not seem to take place immediately, but rather people continued to revel.

“Then, they see something as blatant and as open as what happened with the celebrations on Thursday. We're not talking about where systems couldn't be perfect to keep with compliance, as happened in the cases of the entertainment operators. You can see that the Ħamrun celebrations were blatant, open, and organised illegally,” he said. “It didn't seem as if it is something that was spontaneous, due to it being so big and having such a magnitude.”

The operators have been disappointed that they were not treated with the same standards. “Obviously, they are feeling very cheated and short-changed in this current situation where everyone is trying to do their very utmost in a very difficult situation, since the leisure industry goes diametrically opposed to the measures, because it is based upon getting people together, dancing, and so forth.”

Fenech explained that some entertainers and operators went out of their own way to encourage people to continue following the measures even during their own events.

“We have had even DJ's stopping their music to tell people to sit down in their place and calm them down. We have had establishments increasing security constantly; telling clients to sit down at the table or they could be chucked out of the establishment for standing up and dancing, and then you see an event like this of its size,” he said.

“This didn't seem like a little incident that went out of control for a short time, but rather it seemed that it was organised against all protocols.”

The Malta Tourism Authority told this newsroom that it is going to take action against the organisers of the Ħamrun league-winning celebrations.

“The MTA can confirm that no permit was requested, however, the MTA will be taking action against the organisers, following proper consultation with the Health and Police Authorities,” an MTA spokesperson said.

On Friday, the police also said that 124 fines were issued by them and investigations as to identifying the people who were breaking the rules were still ongoing.

“It gives me solace for the upset entrepreneurs that there were people who were reprimanded after breaching Covid-19 rules,” Fenech said.