March 16, 2020, 03:57 PM
On Mar. 16 (Singapore time), the Dutch government announced the temporary closure of its red light district to prevent further spread of Covid-19.
Red light district in Netherlands closed till Apr. 6
According to Dutch media NL Times, the new measure was introduced at 12:30am on Mar. 16 (Singapore time).
All restaurants, bars, cafes, fitness centres, saunas, sex clubs, and "coffee shops" around the area will shut down till Apr. 6.
The "coffee shops" are euphemisms for shops are known for selling cannabis, or weed, as it's more commonly known.
Long queues
Within an hour of the announcement, pictures and videos of people rushing to get their weed supplies in Amsterdam went viral online.
Long queues were spotted outside the "coffee shops".
https://twitter.com/JennnHobson/status/1239262026079354880
https://twitter.com/SpongeBobCatz/status/1239239109413044224
https://twitter.com/dannyvankooten/status/1239231334729625600
The Italian and Spaniards sing on balconies, the Dutch ran to #coffeeshops to get weed for the next weeks #Coronavirusnl #COVIDー19 https://t.co/bUhMUxIzq8 pic.twitter.com/2eWM8FLE1x
— Kamran Ullah (@KamranUllah) March 15, 2020
The Dutch government decided that shops and bars would be shut down indefinitely from 6pm today because of #coronavirus. At 5:56, at the coffeeshop in my street in Amsterdam, this was the line to buy weed before it closed. At least we dutchies have our priorities in order 😂 pic.twitter.com/kmQ1KpUxuM
— Sarah Hijmans (@sarahhijmans) March 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/Runyx_/status/1239370514398838785
https://twitter.com/thatdutchperson/status/1239238013131128833
dutch people: no food? ok.. but NO WEED????!???!?pic.twitter.com/M282MMHTzx
— joy (@halacsan) March 15, 2020
So within minutes of the Dutch government announcing the country will go into #COVIDー19 lockdown, the people of The Netherlands rush to make their final important purchases. This leads to massive queues outside of the stores that sell...
— Emma Coolen (@emmacoolen24) March 15, 2020
Weed.
Oh, Holland...#Coronavirusnl pic.twitter.com/Wn6IQYHJ3r
https://twitter.com/hausofIau/status/1239239961288851456
dutch gov has announced all cafés, clubs, restaurants, schools and gyms to close until april 6th as of this evening, so here’s queues of ppl trying to buy enough weed to last til then pic.twitter.com/3eIKA2hSru
— Maggy (@maggyvaneijk) March 15, 2020
Technically illegal, but tolerated
Technically, weed is illegal in the Netherlands.
But in 1976, it decriminalised the possession of less than 5g of cannabis.
This basically means that it’s tolerated in the country.
The long queues for weed came despite Dutch Health Minister, Bruno Bruins, urging the country not to hoard any supplies.
As of Mar. 15, the Netherlands had a total of 959 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 12 fatalities.
Top images from Spanky maggyvaneijk/Twitter & Sarah Hijmans/Twitter.
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.