Europe:Protest against COVID restrictions,vaccine requirements

In many countries of Europe, lockdowns leading to riots and protests. The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Russia, which are seeing record Coronavirus infection levels, are imposing lockdown-like restrictions and banning unvaccinated people from venues. Soon after the Austrian government announced that it would impose a lockdown starting Monday and mandated its entire eligible population to get vaccinated within February, protesters took to streets in Vienna. The protests were spearheaded by right-wing political outfit Freedom Party who have vowed to oppose the new restrictions.Thousands of protesters took to Vienna's Heldenplatz chanting ‘Resistance’ and carried signs mocking Austrian chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and the nation’s health minister Wolfgang Mueckstein. Vaccinations in Austria are one of the lowest in western Europe and at least 66% of Austria’s 8.9 million people are vaccinated.

The Netherlands’ Rotterdam saw violence as police were forced to fire bullets at protesters on Friday. Police arrested 51 anti-lockdown protesters on Saturday and said that a hunt is on for more instigators. “Fifty-one people were arrested during the major disturbances on Friday evening and night on Coolsingel (street) in Rotterdam. About half of them were just underage,” Rotterdam Police said. The police also said that two of these protesters were also hit by a bullet when the police allegedly fired at protesters to disperse them. Ahmed Aboutaleb, Rotterdam mayor, called the protests an ‘orgy of violence’, news agency Reuters reported. Protesters also took to the streets of Amsterdam on Saturday to protest against the partial lockdown imposed by Dutch authorities. 

In neighbouring Switzerland, 2,000 people protested an upcoming referendum on whether to approve the government's COVID-19 restrictions law, claiming it was discriminatory, public broadcaster SRF reported. In Italy, 3,000 turned out in the capital's Circus Maximus, a field where in ancient times Romans staged popular entertainment, to protest against "Green Pass" certificates required at workplaces, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, sports venues and gyms, as well as for long-distance train, bus or ferry travel within Italy. 

In Northern Ireland, several hundred people opposed to vaccine passports protested outside the city hall in Belfast, where the city's Christmas market opened Saturday. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required at the market. The Northern Ireland government voted this week to introduce vaccine certificates for admission to nightclubs, bars and restaurants starting Dec. 13. In Croatia, thousands gathered at in the capital Zagreb, carrying Croatian flags, nationalist and religious symbols, along with banners against vaccination and what they describe as restrictions on people's freedoms.In France, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Saturday condemned violent protests in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, one of France's overseas territories, over COVID-19 restrictions. Darmanin said 29 people had been detained by police overnight. Authorities were sending 200 more police officers to the island and on Tuesday will impose a nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. Europe seeing a rise in the number of cases, which health officials have attributed to not taking vaccines and not following Covid-19 preventative measures.