Erbil bookstore closed for violating COVID-19 regulations

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Erbil bookstore was closed by authorities on Friday for “not abiding by health measures” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ashti Bookstore in central Erbil was closed down following an order from Erbil Mayor Nabaz Abdulhameed. 

“Bookstore staff took hundreds of people into a hall for a seminar. This is a violation of the law and threatens to further spread the COVID-19 virus,” Abdulhameed told Rudaw on Friday.

The bookstore held a seminar on encouraging young people to read more on Thursday.

“They closed down our store for violating health measures in our seminar on Thursday, but we made sure that no one entered the hall without a mask,” bookstore owner Ashti Sherko told Rudaw English on Friday.

“We have held 31 activities and seminars in the past few days in order to help Kurdish youth increase their knowledge,” he added. “I ask the mayor to let us reopen our bookstore because Erbil and Kurdistan needs more places like this.”

The Kurdistan Region recorded 215 new cases, 256 recoveries and eight deaths from Thursday to Friday afternoon. 

A total of 101,387 cases, including 66,120 recoveries and 3,328 deaths, have been recorded in the Region since the coronavirus outbreak began.