City officials have emptied an Ikea in the city of Rishon Lezion that opened against health guidelines, threatening to fine anyone who is there, Channel 12 news reports.
According to Kan, the store’s managers have been threatened with NIS 5,000 fines every 90 minutes if they don’t shut down.
Illustrative: Israelis wait outside the IKEA branch in Netanya, after the company opened some of its branches in Israel, on April 26, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
According to Channel 12 news, Ikea had opened parts of its Israel stores Sunday morning that it classified as essential, after having claimed last month that it had a legal opinion giving it the right to do so. That included sections selling food and other items that “essential” homewares stores have been able to sell.
Videos and pictures show that hundreds of Israelis flocked to the flat-pack giant despite the guidelines forbidding it from opening.
בעיריית ראשון לציון הודיעו כי בכל שעה וחצי יגיעו פקחים לסניף ולתת קנס כפול למנהליו במידה ולא ייסגר. בתיעוד: הפקחים בסניף לפני זמן קצר@hadasgrinberg (צילום: החברה לביטחון) pic.twitter.com/nKf0F4Iuag
Police say they handed out over 5,300 tickets for coronavirus guideline violations over the weekend, the vast majority of them for mask misdemeanors.
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