Amsterdam: Car-free Sunday coincides with Eid ul-Fitr
The national car-free Sunday on September 20th coincides with Eid ul-Fitr, the celebration of the end of the month of Ramadan, an Amsterdam civil servant discovered. Traditionally the Muslim community uses the car a lot on this day.
During the three day long Eid ul-Fitr, Muslims traditionally travel a lot. In the mornings Muslims visit the mosque and then go - often by car - to family and friends to celebrate the holiday. The municipality fears that Muslims who are not aware of it would be stranded in the car-free zones.
Therefor the city administration will start a PR campaign for Muslims. Friday banners financed by the municipality will appear on Moroccan websites and during the Friday prayers in the mosques they will be reminded of the car-free Sunday. Immigrant organizations were notified by mail.
The city districts are also helping. Notice is being spread by 'neighborhood fathers' and in cafes.
During the car-free Sunday, cars can't enter town via A10 between 10AM and 5PM. Leaving town is possible. Public transportation and taxis will remain in service.
The municipality asked the national car-free day committee to advertise the news nationally.
In Belgium they're already aware of this coincidence. Car-free Sunday is a European initiative this week. The Ghent municipality site already had an announcement about car-free Sunday and Eid ul-Fitr last week.
Source: Het Parool (Dutch)
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