Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — After the continued presence of sunbathers on public Playa del Carmen beaches, Municipal Police reinstated yellow closure tape and asked those found on the beaches, to leave.
The closures and removal of people came after a week of reports of residents being seen on public beaches. The Ministry of Public Security of Solidaridad says the presence of people on public beaches is not allowed as a measure to reduce the risk of COVID-19 contagion.
“We take this action to avoid falling into a red light. Citizens must support us in this because otherwise, the consequences will be bad for everyone,” said a Solidaridad commander.
Municipal and state agents traveled the sandy areas with ATVs approaching sunbathers, reminding them that the public beach areas remain closed. Police report that during the journey, an extensive number of people were found along the beaches as well as vendors renting chairs and umbrellas. They too, were also removed from the area.
The Solidaridad government indicated that this effort involves Civil Protection, Public Safety and the National Guard who “within the framework of the law and respecting the individual guarantees of citizens, ask them to withdraw from the beaches that are closed according to the orange color at the epidemiological traffic light of Quintana Roo.”
In their statement, the city says that main access points to beach sites have been cordoned off to reduce the flow of people. This, the statement continued, adds to the measures put in place in the municipality to keep the contagion curve stable with a safe and orderly reopening of the activities allowed within the so-called new normal.
The Operational Director of the Secretariat of Civil Protection Emmanuel Hedding Medina, reported that they are supervising the coastline with a greater presence of authorities between Xcalacoco and Playacar, where a vast majority of residents have been found on the beach.
