Protests against the restrictive measures in the Netherlands and Austria

Tens of thousands of protesters in Vienna;

In the Austrian capital, more than 35,000 people gathered two steps from Hofburg Imperial Palace to protest the “dictatorship” and “fascism” of the coronavirus, two days before the launch of the new Catholic national lockdown in Austria last until December 13.

Among them is Katarina Girser, a Tyrol protester who traveled six hours to Vienna to protest. “It is not normal for us to be deprived of our rights,” said the 42-year-old professor, who lamented that “the government wants to divide us.”

In a Europe that has once again become the epicenter of the epidemic, Austria, where cases have reached unprecedented levels since the spring of 2020, is the first country to impose a lockdown on its population again. In recent days, however, many other countries have announced the tightening of restrictive measures.

Austria also became the first country in the European Union to impose compulsory vaccination on the entire population from 1 February.

The demonstration in Vienna took place peacefully, despite the throwing of smoke and objects, and under the supervision of police forces, who feared the presence of nationalists, neo-Nazis and hooligans and the repetition of yesterday’s Rotterdam scenario in the Netherlands, where the demonstration took place. .

Dutch police opened fire with live ammunition, injuring two protesters. Protesters hurled stones and fireworks at police, setting fire to police vehicles and causing chaos.

“Warning shots were fired repeatedly. At some point, the situation became so dangerous that the police felt compelled to shoot at targets,” Dutch police explained.

Dozens of arrests followed, seven people were injured, including police, and Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Abu Taleb spoke of an “orgy of violence”.

The protesters were mainly protesting against the possible ban on entry to restaurants and bars of people who have not been vaccinated or can not prove that they are ill.

Today, new rallies were held in the cities of Brenda, where about 300 people marched peacefully, and in Amsterdam, where hundreds of people opposed to the curfew gathered in the city center, despite the cancellation of the originally planned rally.

The United We Stand Europe organization invoked on its Facebook page “hell last night in Rotterdam” to cancel today’s rally in Amsterdam.

In January, violent riots broke out in the Netherlands, the worst in forty years, following a lockdown.

Violence in the French Antilles

On the other side of the Atlantic, the mobilization of opponents of the health certificate and the mandatory vaccination of health personnel under the auspices of trade unions and civil society organizations turned into an outbreak of violence in Guadeloupe.

Despite the traffic ban imposed by the authorities, last night was marked by looting and arson. Police said a police vehicle and gendarmes were targeted by live ammunition. Shops were looted in Poit-a-Pitr, four buildings were set on fire, and protesters set up roadblocks and threw stones at police.

In Australia, 10,000 people marched in Sydney and thousands in Melbourne to protest against the mandatory vaccination in some states and territories for certain occupations, as life returns to normal in the country.

In Melbourne, one of the first protests took place, where about 2,000 people protested against the measures against Covid.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ