The coronavirus, which has killed more than 2.7 million people globally, has been spreading faster recently, with the number of new infections up globally by 14 percent in the last week, according to AFP data.
That has forced governments to impose social distancing and movement restrictions again, even as vaccines are rolled out, with residents across Europe facing fresh and tougher measures.
But populations have grown increasingly weary of the economically painful restrictions, and frustrations spilled over in cities across Europe, with thousands marching in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland.
Demonstrators in the German city of Kassel held up signs including “End the Lockdown” and “Corona Rebels”, as they participated in a protest attended by activists from both the far-left and the far-right, as well as advocates of conspiracy theories about the pandemic and vaccines.
Authorities used water cannon, batons and pepper spray to disperse the Kassel protests, which a Kassel police spokesman said numbered between 15,000 and 20,000 – one of the largest such rallies so far this year.
In Sweden, police disbanded demonstrations against virus restrictions in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö on Saturday.
The current law in Sweden allows a maximum of eight people to gather in one place. But when the demonstrations began at 1pm in the major Swedish cities, police were quick to point out that they were in breach of the law.
There were also anti-restrictions protests across many cities in Europe, including Düsseldorf, Vienna and the Swiss town of Liestal.
In Austria, about 1,000 protesters gathered to protest against the government’s virus measures near the capital’s central train station. Police reproached several protesters who were not wearing masks and gathering close together, news agency APA reported.
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Here are this weekend’s protests across Europe in pictures:
Protesters gather in Malmö, Sweden. Photo: Johan Nilsson / TT
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I for one cannot see how we can continue indefinitely with the policy of trying to control the Covid 19 pandemic as it seems more and more unlikely that the world population will continue to put up with endless lockdowns, masks and an economic disaster going forwards.
As an observer it seems that the main concern worldwide is the ability of a country’s health system to be able to cope with the number of critical care beds needed when there is a surge.
If the vaccine fails to cure the problem then it begs the question whether we should not put much more resource into critical care assets now so we can cope with the virus running more freely through the world population.
I cannot see how the current situation is sustainable for the coming years and so maybe it is time to rethink the future pandemic strategy from scratch rather than blindly continuing as we are ?
Paul Markland
Absolutely agree with you here Paul! Your words are so true!
It’s deeply disturbing to see adults who are so self-centered that they believe that the requirements of social distancing, masks, and lockdown are equivalent to slavery. These protesters need to read about or watch films the Holocaust in Europe or about slavery in the US as well as the practices like lynching during the Jim-Crow era in the US. And before they go out into the streets again, they should consider their impact, and try to imagine the experiences of physicians and nurses who’ve been driven to despair and depression while working the intensive-care units of hospitals around the world. It’s not hard to find their heart-wrenching interviews and articles.
班农和郭文贵利用了闫丽梦作为一名逃离香港的科研人员的身份，让公众持续关注“COVID-19作为一种生物武器”的说法。与其他在线平台一样，数据存储库和预印服务器为应对COVID-19的国际合作提供了关键基础设施，但由于其联合赋予的合法性，它们也可能被用于虚假信息运动。当公众和一些记者看到这些网站时，他们可能会无意中认为这些内容是经过官方审查或评估的，因此是可靠的科学。当被顶尖科学家、大学和研究所的研究包围时，伪科学尤其具有欺骗性。