AUSTRIA,THE NETHERLANDS, AUSTRALIA: Even as Europe has been witnessing a rising number of COVID-19 cases across the continent, lockdowns have met with protests in the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland on Saturday. All of these nations, including Germany and Russia, which are seeing record infection levels, are imposing lockdown-like restrictions and banning unvaccinated people from venues, leading to riots and protests.
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, news agency AP reported.
The Austrian lockdown will remain in place for 10 days following which the authorities will take a call on whether to extend it for another 10 days. 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.
Hundreds of protesters also took to the streets of Amsterdam on Saturday to protest against the partial lockdown imposed by Dutch authorities.
Protests are also expected to take place in Switzerland, Croatia and Italy against lockdown measures despite 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.
Meanwhile, Several thousand people took to Australia’s streets on Saturday protesting COVID-19 vaccination mandates, while smaller crowds gathered to support the measures that have elevated the country to be one of the most inoculated in the world.
Nearly 85 per cent of Australians aged 16 and above have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of November 19. While nationwide vaccinations are voluntary, states and territories have mandated vaccinations for many occupations and barred the unvaccinated from activities such as dining out and concerts.
Chanting ‘Freedom, freedom’ and carrying ‘End Segregation Now’ signs, several thousand anti-vaccination protesters marched through Melbourne’s downtown, Australia’s second-most populous city that was hit the hardest by the pandemic.
Protesters also gathered in Sydney, Brisbane and other cities, with no immediate reports of unruly behaviour.
Despite the Delta outbreaks that led to months of lockdown in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia has had only about 760 confirmed cases and 7.5 deaths per 100,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organisation, far lower than many other developed nations.
New Zealand, which is also learning to live with COVID-19 through high vaccination rates has so far fully vaccinated 83 per cent of its population. – THE HINDUSTAN TIMES, THE MALAY MAIL