Musician invites wedding guests to dance, gets fined for violating virus measures

BURSA – Demirören News Agency

A musician has been fined for violating coronavirus measures after daring the attendees of a wedding ceremony to line up to dance the traditional halay in the İnegöl district of the northwestern province of Bursa.

The musician and the organizers of the ceremony were fined 6,360 Turkish Liras ($866).

The musician reportedly dared the guests at the wedding to dance before 30 people gathered to form a line for the traditional halay dance, which involves people dancing shoulder to shoulder and holding hands only centimeters away from each other.

Security officials who later arrived at the scene noticed attendees largely disobeying social distancing rules, fining the keyboard player and those holding the ceremony.

According to official reports, just in the northwestern province of Bursa during a four-day lockdown in May, residents were fined around 3 million Turkish Liras ($408,000) for not adhering to COVID-19 measures.

“Every day, around new 60 cases add to the number of total COVID-19 cases in the province. The main reason for the spread of the virus are weddings,” said Güzide Elitez, the head of the Bursa Chamber of Medicine, had recently told local media.