Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Protests Growing Worldwide Against New Lockdowns


Covid: Protests take place across Italy over anti-virus measures
BBC NEWS



Protests took place across Italy on Monday over new restrictions to curb the country's second wave of Covid.

Clashes were reported in the northern cities of Milan and Turin, where petrol bombs were thrown at officers.

In Milan tear gas was used to disperse protesters, and thousands of people gathered in the centre of Naples.

The demonstrations began soon after the national government's order to close restaurants, bars, gyms and cinemas came into effect at 18:00 local time.

Many regions have also imposed night-time curfews - including Lombardy, where Milan is, and Piedmont, where Turin is. The violence was blamed on extremist agitators and police said 28 people had been arrested in Milan alone.

Protests took place in about a dozen other cities, including Rome, Genoa, Palermo and Trieste. Taxi drivers occupied a central square in Turin while restaurant owners beat pots and pans in the centre of Cremona.

In Naples, a big crowd gathered in the central Piazza del Plebiscito, many calling on the regional governor to resign.

While an initial national lockdown earlier this year was complied with little resistance, the announcement of renewed measures has been met with immediate pushback.


Small businesses argue that they are still recovering from that first lockdown, and that more restrictions could bankrupt them.


The days of clapping for medical staff and of rainbow banners reading "everything will be alright" seem a distant memory. The virus may be back - but the near-total support for the anti-Covid fight that Italians showed in the first wave is breaking.

In Milan, crowds chanted "Freedom, freedom, freedom!" as they clashed with police in the city centre. The city is the capital of Lombardy, which has been particularly hard hit by the virus.


What's happening elsewhere in Europe?

Gyms and pools have also closed in the Belgian capital Brussels, and shops must shut at 20:00. Masks are now compulsory in public spaces. These rules will remain in force until 19 November.

Meanwhile doctors in the Belgian city of Liège have been asked to keep working, even if they have coronavirus. The head of the Belgian Association of Medical Unions told the BBC they had no choice if they were to prevent the hospital system collapsing within days. 

In the UK, people aged 16 to 25 are more than twice as likely as older workers to have lost their job during the pandemic, BBC Panorama has found. Research seen by the programme also suggests the education gap between privileged and disadvantaged young people has widened further. 

In France, health experts have warned that the number of new Covid-19 cases per day could be about 100,000 - twice the official figure.

France has already imposed night-time curfews on major cities, including Paris. The country has recorded more than 1.1 million cases in total and 34,780 deaths.

The Czech Republic has also introduced a night-time curfew, which came into effect on Tuesday at midnight for a week. Nobody will be allowed to leave their homes between 21:00 and 04:59 each night except to travel to and from work, for medical reasons or a few other exceptions. All shops will be shut on Sundays and will close at 20:00 on other days.

Spain has declared a national state of emergency and imposed a night-time curfew amid a new spike in Covid-19 infections.





Watch: ‘Shove Your New World Order Up Your *ss!’ — London Erupts in Protest Against Lockdown


Kurt Zindulka



Thousands of protesters descended on the British capital on Saturday to call for an end to coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions on businesses in the UK, which they described as a form of “tyranny”.

In a Breitbart London exclusive video, protesters were seen singing: “I would rather be a human than a slave”, “We are the 99 per cent”, and “You can shove your New World Order up your ass”.

The ‘Stop the New Normal’ march was organised by the anti-lockdown activist group Stand Up X and was one of the largest rallies against the government’s coronavirus restrictions since the beginning of the lockdowns in March.

The large scale act of civil disobedience followed more restrictions being imposed on the people of Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, as well as the introduction of a ‘tier system’ by Prime Minister Boris in England, in which local regions and cities are placed under lockdown if spikes in coronavirus cases are recorded.


At around 4 pm the police in London began using tactics to split the protest into separate groups and made at least 18 arrests in Trafalgar Square and on Westminster Bridge.

One woman told Breitbart London: “I’m so angry, all these police that are storming in, they’re going to lose their pensions. They’re supposed to be protecting us, they’re not, this is tyranny.”

“I cannot believe in this day and age, in this time now, more than ever we need to stand together, and if people can’t get together and get united for the cause, for their freedom, for everybody, then we’ve lost already,” she said.

“I don’t understand, if your children are not the motivation to fight for your freedom… my grandfather and my grandad did not fight in the First World War and the Second World War as snipers to not be under a fucking dictatorship, for it to happen now in 2020,” she added, going on to urge the rest of the country to “wake up”.


In footage shared online, police were again seen physically confronting the anti-lockdown protesters, with one man wearing a ‘Make Britain Great Again’ hat being thrown to the pavement.

In contrast, the police took a hands-off approach to a large-scale protest against police brutality in Nigeria, that was led by Black Lives Matter activist and self-described Black Panther, Sasha Johnson.




The missing virus---answering critics’ objections






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