Holding banners reading “Help!” and “We are not the problem”, Spanish bar, restaurant and nightclub owners gathered in central Madrid on Wednesday to ask the government for tax cuts and support to survive the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.

Nightclubs are closed in Madrid and usually bustling restaurants and bars are back to only being allowed to open at a reduced capacity to stem a rebound in Covid-19 cases in a country with a strong tradition of eating out.

“With the capacity they have assigned, taking steps backwards, this is an impossible situation,” said Pepa Munoz, owner and chef of “El Quenco de Pepa” restaurant in Madrid.

With few clients and scarce tourists, these businesses brace for an even tougher autumn and winter.

“We are hanging on thanks to terraces, but their days are numbered,” she said, dreading the cold winter days.

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