The case was brought on by 11 restaurant owners who submitted urgent requests that lawmakers review the curfew, which was announced by Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier in October. The administrative court found that outbreaks most commonly result from from travel, private gatherings, community centers, religious gatherings, and meat processing factories. Accordingly, they ruled that the cutoff was a “disproportionate encroachment on the freedom of the industry.”

The development gives hope to nightlife professionals embroiled in similar lawmaker disputes across the globe. Notably, Greater Manchester Night Time Economy Advisor Sacha Lord recently enlisted lawyers to fight lockdowns proposed by the U.K government.

“A Berlin Court has just suspended an order for bars/restaurants to close at 11pm…” tweeted Lord. “…This is huge.”

Meanwhile, Germany is still grappling with case counts even higher than when the COVID-19 pandemic started. 7,334 new infections and 24 deaths were reported by the country on Friday alone.

Berlin is considered one of Germany’s biggest coronavirus hotspots with more than 78 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Image credit: Sarthak Navjivan

After it was reported that Manchester would be placed in tier three for “very high risk,” Greater Manchester Night Time Economy Advisor Sacha Lord has enlisted lawyers to challenge the legality of the emergency restrictions. According to Manchester Evening News, the move was supported by the Night Time Industries Association, The British Beer and Pub Association, and numerous Greater Manchester establishments. “We have been given no tangible scientific evidence to merit a full closure of hospitality and entertainment sectors and have been left with no option than to escalate the matter with legal action,” Lord tweeted.

U.K. authorities later announced that Manchester would remain in level two, but Lord promised to “keep their legal challenge ready” in case stricter guidelines are imposed.

The potential opposition think they have a case nonetheless. Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden has said that “academic evidence” supports the argument that there’s “quite a high risk associated with hospitality settings.”

On the same day U.K. lawmakers unveiled the three-tiered system, Arts Council England announced a round of Culture Recovery Fund recipients for grants totaling £257 million. A total of 1,385 cultural institutions were awarded aid – but Arts Professional reports that 578 were rejected.

At the time of writing, nearly 618,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.K. according to the World Health Organization.

Image credit: Alexander Popov