Merida, Yucatan — Responding to the musicians’ protest outside city hall, members of the anti-noise group Todos Somos Mérida insist that they have nothing against music.
But turn down the volume so neighbors can sleep, they said.
Sunday’s protest, a response to a citywide crackdown on excessive noise, made the case that musicians shouldn’t be stifled. They’re making music, not noise, they insisted.
Lorena Velázquez, a member of Todos Somos Mérida and one of those who has been affected by the noise, cheered the fact that the city is finally addressing noise complaints.
Admitting that those affected by the closure of their businesses are entitled to demonstrate, Velázquez insists that nightclubs have to remember that private homes are next door.
“Because even Beethoven can become a problem when the volume is excessive and when it affects a person who has to go to work the other day,” she said.
The City Council did not comment on the musicians’ demonstration, but the secretary of citizen participation, Julio Sauma Castillo, and the director Urban Development, Federico Sauri Molina, met with their representatives.
Also present at the meeting were Ignacio Gutiérrez Solís, deputy director of the legal department and Dulce Pacheco González, deputy director of the department of urban development.
As a promoter of cultural and artistic events, the City Council is not against music, reporters were told.