(Germany)
Nearly 40,000 people took to the streets of Belgium's capital Brussels on Sunday to protest against new anti-Covid measures banning the unvaccinated from entering restaurants and bars.
www.dailymail.co.uk
[This article is photo and graphic rich. TB2K will cut me off on # of photos, so you will have to go to the website to see the rest of the article]
Violence breaks out at Brussels anti-vaccine protest in Europe's latest day of rage: Fury over rules banning unjabbed from bars sparks clashes hours after Germany revealed COMPULSORY vaccinations are 'unavoidable'
- Nearly 40,000 protesters descended on Belgium's capital Brussels in a revolt against anti-Covid measures
- The riot left three police officers injured and one demonstrator hurt after a firework exploded in his hand
- Germany is set to follow Austria's example in making vaccinations compulsory amid fourth wave of pandemic
- France is also facing worrying number of cases, with fifth-wave Covid infections rising at an alarming rate
- Violence erupted in Vienna as 10,000 protesters took to the streets after new lockdown was announced
- Dutch protesters also gathered in Amsterdam, The Hague and Breda to demonstrate against measures
- The Netherlands entered a partial lockdown on Saturday, sparking a furious backlash against the government
- Austria on Friday reimposed a full winter lockdown and neighbouring Germany warned it may soon follow suit
By
RACHAEL BUNYAN and
CHRIS MATTHEWS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 07:44 EST, 21 November 2021 | UPDATED: 16:28 EST, 21 November 2021
Europe descended into a third day of violent carnage on Sunday as tens of thousands of people in Belgium took to the streets to protest against the return of strict lockdown rules aimed at curbing a rise in Covid infections.
Nearly 40,000 people descended on the capital Brussels to protest against new anti-Covid measures banning the unvaccinated from entering restaurants and bars.
Some protesters were seen throwing projectiles at riot police and in response, officers fired water cannon and tear gas at the group. Police have made some arrests, but it is not immediately clear how many.
Video footage from Brussels shows a large group of protesters shouting at police as some light flares and throw them at the officers. One man can even be seen mooning at them.
The protests descended into chaos, with some of the protesters seen setting fires on the streets while others threw rocks through the windows of local businesses including a post office. Two police cars have also been damaged.
The protest came just hours after it emerged Germany is set to follow Austria's example in making vaccinations compulsory with ministers admitting that the move is 'unavoidable' amid a fourth wave of the pandemic which is crippling the country's hospitals.
Last night also saw similar demonstrations against virus restrictions take place in Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Italy, Northern Ireland, Austria and North Macedonia on Saturday, a day after Dutch police opened fire on protesters and seven people were injured in rioting that erupted in Rotterdam.
Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic once again, with the
World Health Organisation warning that the Continent was the only region in the world where deaths had increased as Covid-related fatalities spiked by five per cent just this week.
In France, the government has warned that the fifth wave of coronavirus are rising at 'lightning speed', with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week.
In Belgium, cases have been surging, with infections reaching 13,836 on Sunday. In response, the government has introduced restrictions including a ban on the unvaccinated from venues such as restaurants and bars, and an order to work from home at least four days a week.
Police said 35,000 protesters marched from the North Station in Brussels on Sunday afternoon against a fresh round of Covid measures announced by the government on Wednesday.
The demonstration, called 'Together for Freedom', saw some protesters clash with riot police near the Belgian capital's EU and government district. Many of the protesters caught up in the clash were wearing hoods and carried Flemish nationalist flags.
A total of 42 people were detained and two were arrested in the riots. Meanwhile, three police officers were injured and taken to hospital and one protester was hurt after a firework exploded in his hand.
Protesters set up fire in the street during a demonstration against Belgium government's measures to curb the spread of Covid-19
A street in Brussels is left smouldering as Protesters continue to demonstrate against the Covid vaccine being made compulsory
Protesters face riot place clash during an anti-coronavirus measures protest in Brussels, as a flare goes off and debris litters the road
Belgian police hold their shields and batons as flares are released by demonstrators protesting a mandatory Covid vaccine
Riot police in Brussels fire water cannon towards Covid protesters
https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/prev...055786746/636x382_MP4_1464176161055786746.mp4 .23 min
Police intervene in demonstrators as they gather around Nord Train Station to protest against mandatory Covid-19 vaccine
People dressed in black protest against coronavirus disease measures near the European Commission in Brussels
Nearly 40,000 people descended on the Belgian capital of Brussels before the protest turned into a riot that left four people injured, including one demonstrator who was hurt after a firework exploded in his hand
Demonstrators gather around Nord Train Station to protest against mandatory Covid-19 vaccine, in Brussels, the Belgian capital
Protesters used whistles and even a traditional animal horn to voice their displeasure at heightened Covid measures in Brussels
Police take security measurements as people gather around Nord Train Station to protest against mandatory Covid-19 vaccine, in Brussels, Belgium
https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/prev...429653856/636x382_MP4_6511173498429653856.mp4 1:15 min
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1462442314886955008
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View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1462438870621081601
1:48 min
[more photos, graphs/data on website]
Protesters set fire to piles of wood in the middle of roads and threw bricks through the windows of buildings, including a local post office.
Several police officers were injured after protesters threw bottles and fireworks at them.
Last week, Belgium's Prime Minister Last week, Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said 'the alarm signals are all red' as he imposed tough restrictions, ordering people to work at home for at least four days a week.
Under new restrictions, all people in indoor venues such as cafes and restaurants will need to wear a mask unless seated and the rule will apply to those aged 10 or older. The previous age threshold was 12.
Nightclubs may have to test their guests if they want to let them dance mask-free. People wanting to eat in a restaurant or go to the theatre already must present a COVID pass, showing vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery.
Most Belgians will also have to work from home four days a week until mid-December, and for three days after that.
Belgium has one of the highest cases per capita rates in the European Union, behind only the Baltic and former Yugoslav nations and Austria, at around one per hundred people over the past 14 days, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
'The alarm signals are all red,' prime minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference. 'We had all hoped to have a winter without coronavirus, but Belgium is not an island.'
Niels Van Regenmortel, the intensive care units coordinator at the ZNA Stuivenberg hospital in Antwerp, said there was an increasing risk hospitals in Belgium will have to resort to triage as ICUs fill up amid soaring COVID-19 numbers, calling on the government to restrict night life.
In Germany, the number of Covid cases are soaring daily, with the country reporting 48,201 infections on Saturday - the highest number of new
coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
The fourth wave is overwhelming hospitals, with health chiefs warning that the situation is 'extremely critical' across the country.
In France, fifth-wave coronavirus infections are rising at an alarming rate, the government reported Sunday, with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week.
In Germany, a relatively low vaccination rate - hovering under 70 per cent - has left the country vulnerable to the virus.
Germany's federal tourism commissioner Thomas Bareiß has now said the worsening situation makes it clear that compulsory vaccination is 'unavoidable'.
Bareiß told DPA news agency: 'In retrospect, it was wrong not to see that right from the start. The hope at that time is understandable, but it was not realistic.'
His calls were echoed by the Prime Minister of Bavaria, which has seen Covid cases surge, who said 'in the end we will not be able to avoid compulsory vaccination'.
Mr Bareiß, the tourism commissioner of Germany's federal government, said a compulsory vaccination is 'unavoidable'.
He said: 'For me it is politically no longer justifiable that entire industries, retailers, restaurants, clubs, bars and the entire cinema, cultural and event scene live in a state of crisis prescribed by the state for 20 months and are faced with great existential fears, while others are concerned take the freedom not to vaccinate.
'So far, historical measures and sums of money have been able to save many companies. That doesn't work in the long run.'
In Bavaria, there has been a 'dramatic' coronavirus resurgence. It prompted the Bavarian state capital of Munich to become the first major German city to cancel its Christmas market, which usually draws some three million visitors.
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder said he believes the country will 'not be able to avoid' compulsory vaccination.
He told
Berliner Zeitung: 'I believe that in the end we will not be able to avoid compulsory vaccination. Otherwise it will be an endless loop with this coronavirus.'
The director of Frankfurt University Hospital said the situation in intensive care units in the state of Hesse is 'critical'.
Jürgen Graf, who is also the head of the planning staff for the inpatient care of Covid patients in Hesse at the Ministry of Health, told
Bild: 'The situation is extremely critical. What we are currently doing is crisis management.'
He added: 'This is not a problem for Covid patients, it affects everyone,' explaining that inpatient care and the care of emergency patients are 'impaired' due to longer wait times.
The warning comes as a hospital in Bavaria's Freising last week made the unprecedented decision to transfer a Covid-19 patient to northern Italy because it 'had no more capacity to receive them, and the surrounding hospitals were also full.'
Almost one per cent of the new infections end up in the intensive care unit, Graf said. 'Given the current number of infections, that would be 50 or more patients per week in addition to the approximately 250 patients treated there today,' he added. 'Then in a few weeks we will be well above last winter's high.'
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