İzmir Municipality apologizes for causing overcrowding during aid distribution
The Aegean municipality of İzmir has apologized for overcrowding, which occurred at one of their aid distribution spots during the nationwide curfew over New Year's Eve. The municipality also apologized to everyone who missed out on aid because of the overcrowding.
Duvar English
Turkey's Aegean İzmir Municipality has apologized for creating a crowd at an aid distribution spot during the four-day nationwide curfew over New Year's Eve that was imposed in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Large crowds violated COVID-19 restrictions in front of a district municipality building in the city's Konak district during the nationwide curfew on Jan. 1, 2, and 3.
"We would like to apologize to the public, and especially to those who couldn't receive aid because of the overcrowding," the municipality said in a statement on Jan. 3.
The municipality will "surely look into" what went awry during the curfew; a departure from their lack of relief efforts throughout 2020, during which the city suffered a devastating earthquake amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement added.
The municipality withdrew their teams from the district when the crowds grew, the statement said, adding that their intention was to prevent crowding, which is why the aid distribution was scheduled during the curfew.