Police dispersed or detained hundreds of protesters against Covid-19 blockades in Hungary, Austria and Belgium, while continuing quarantine regimes across Europe were irritated by the economic and social losses of nearly a year of restrictions on business, travel and community life.
Brussels police said on Sunday that they had arrested many people in an attempt to prevent two prohibited demonstrations against measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “We have over 200 prisoners at the moment,” mainly around the railway stations in the Belgian capital, said a police spokesman at around noon.
Police evacuated a square in front of the main train station, where some of the protesters were football fans from Belgian clubs. Dozens of people, responding to calls on social media, also began to meet at the Atomium landmark in Brussels.
“We remember that there is no authorization to come and do a demonstration this Sunday,” said Brussels police in a tweet. “Those people who still intend to demonstrate in Brussels today will be approached, deterred from staying and if necessary [detained], “Said.
Belgium recorded one of the highest mortality rates in the world during the coronavirus pandemic, but restrictions on the closure of bars and restaurants since October, along with the night curfew, have reduced infection and hospital cases in the past two months. .
The country last week banned non-essential travel inside and outside the country until March 1.
The Netherlands, neighboring Belgium, was shaken by protests against the curfew last week. But protesters took a different approach on Sunday in Apeldoorn under the so-called “drinking coffee together”.
About 400 people dispersed peacefully in the Dutch city center after meeting for an authorized demonstration at a community center.
In Amsterdam, a strong police presence prevented a peaceful but unauthorized demonstration.
Some 5,000 people challenged the ban on marching in Vienna in protest against a curfew and blockade aimed at containing the spread of new variants of Covid-19.
The march was organized by the far-right party FPOe, and many participants ignored government regulations on the use of masks and the need to maintain minimum distances from each other.
Neo-Nazi militants and bandits were reportedly among the crowd, which refused to disperse and blocked traffic while marching towards the national parliament. The police intervened and arrested some protesters.
Police also dispersed the protesters at a Sunday demonstration in Budapest where workers in the country’s struggling hospitality sector demanded civil disobedience and a rethink of blocking restrictions.
Organizers of the demonstration in a central square in the capital of Hungary have asked restaurant owners to break the rules of the pandemic by opening their businesses to customers on Monday, challenging the strict pandemic measures that limit restaurants and cafes to food delivery services.
“All the tools we have used so far have been exhausted, so from now on, all businesses must be opened in the spirit of civil disobedience,” said the protest organizer, Aron Ecsenyi.
The demonstration came along with the growing calls for action by the Hungarian hospital sector government as the country’s blockade, which began on November 11, is approaching the three-month mark. The Hungarian government insisted that only mass vaccination of the population can end the blockade.
The pandemic restrictions were extended on Thursday until March 1, and many business owners complain that they have received little or nothing from the financial aid promised by the government, while other businesses, such as shopping malls and retail stores, have been allowed to remain open.
Polish police said they broke into nightclubs in the cities of Wrocław and Rybnik that opened in violation of coronavirus restrictions on Saturday, using shock grenades and tear gas to clean the dance floor.
Nearly 150 policemen were posted to the Face 2 Face club in Rybnik, local police said on Sunday. Two policemen were injured and the police arrested three men and checked the identity documents of 213 others.
Similar operations, requiring less force, were carried out in the southwestern city of Wrocław, police said.
As is the case elsewhere, restrictions on dance and sports clubs, hotels, restaurants and ski areas have met with opposition in Poland, and some locations have decided to open despite the risk of heavy fines.
Poland recorded more than 37,000 deaths from Covid-19 in more than 1.5 million cases among a population of 38 million people.