“The events in question were attended by about 300 and 100 people respectively, who obeyed the stop order and dispersed, with those responsible for both establishments being fined and detained for the crime of disobedience”, said the Maritime Police, in a statement, referring to the occurrence that was registered on 25 July at night, on a beach in Costa da Caparica.

The two commercial establishments were “promoting parties that indicated non-compliance with legal measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus”, said the supervisor body under the responsibility of the National Maritime Authority, indicating that the intervention on site was carried out by the Local Command of the Lisbon Maritime Police.

The National Maritime Authority warned of the “importance, necessity and obligation of all citizens to constitute themselves as public health agents”, complying with the principles that have been established to respond to the pandemic.

The occurrence registered by the Maritime Police took place in the municipality of Almada, which is part of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (AML), being in a state of contingency due to the pandemic, with the gatherings limited to 10 people.

Most of mainland Portugal entered on 1 July in a situation of alert due to the pandemic of covid-19, except the AML, which changed to the contingency state that remains until 31 July.