Amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks in Europe, hundreds gathered Sunday in the Spanish capital Madrid and Belgian capital Brussels in protest against the mandatory wearing of masks and other restrictions imposed in both countries to to limit the spread of the virus.
Both protests follow a four-day streak of emerging daily new cases from 11 to 14 August across Europe, which has more than 3.7 million confirmed cases. Weekly new cases in the region increased four consecutive weeks from the week beginning July 13 to the week beginning August 3, according to the latest report Sunday by the World Health Organization.
The demonstrations are the latest in a string of anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests reported this month in Europe, including in the UK and Germany, with growing anti-mask sentiment reported in France.
Hundreds of Spaniards clapped and sang “Freedom” rallied in Madrid’s Plaza de Colón on Sunday, holding signs reading “The virus does not exist” and “Kill masks” and “We are not afraid,” reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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Meanwhile in Brussels, a crowd of more than 200 people gathered Sunday in protest against masks and other measures, with protesters holding signs calling “Circus Corona” and “It’s my body, it’s my choice,” FR reported. / AFP.
The protest in Spain came two days after new restrictions were announced in the country, including closures of nightclubs and a ban on smoking in public spaces if it is not possible to walk at least two meters (around 6.5 meters) from other people hold.
Many of the Protestants in Madrid were seen without masks, which are currently required to be worn in public spaces throughout the country.
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One protest in Madrid, 58-year-old Pilar Martin from the northeastern city of Zaragoza, claimed that governments around the world were exaggerating the number of infections to restrict people’s freedoms.
Martin told AFP: “They force us to use a mask, they want us to practically stay locked up at home. It’s obvious they’re constantly nagging us with talk of outbreaks. It’s all a lie.”
Some protesters in Brussels were also reported to be wearing no masks, which are mandatory in the Brussels region of 12 August. The country put all further openings on pause last month, with mask mandates issued to all customers not sitting in bars and restaurants.
One man at the protest in Brussels apparently wore an orange life jacket with a sign that said ‘Ready for the second wave’, while another protester wore a t-shirt that said ‘No to this masquerade’, reported FR / AFP.
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The call for protest in Brussels, which began on social media days earlier, was accompanied by a call for the dismissal of Belgian virologist-epidemiologist Marc Van Ranst, head of the COVID-19 test laboratory at Leuven University (the national reference laboratory for the virus), which is among the health experts of the country advising the government on the outbreak.
Around mid-July, Van Ranst told Belgian Radio 1 network: “With the latest figures and recent increases in confirmed cases, you can clearly see that we are at the beginning of a second wave,” after a 32 percent increase in weekly cases at the moment, Reuters reported.
One woman on Sunday’s protest told the Belgian television channel RTBF over time: “The purpose (of the virus) is to vaccinate and virologists who appear on television receive small envelopes from pharmaceutical laboratories, as we know.”
Earlier this month in central London, crowds of protesters marched on an ‘anti-mask march,’ with several stops reading: ‘Stop the new normal, save lives’, ‘Freedom over fear’, and ‘Masks are mice’, they marched towards Downing Street, the location of the official residence of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Anti-Mask March went from an earlier rally at Marble Arch which then passed through Oxford Street left at Regent Street and then passed towards the BBC Center #KBF pic.twitter.com/wZRq0ekqqb
– jack Lord oatkon (@ Bookhimdannom1) August 1, 2020
One protester in London told Ruptly: “I’m worried about where the country is going in terms of mandatory use of face masks. Well, this is my body. I used to be a nurse, a mental health nurse, and one of the “What we learned as students of mental health care is that it is considered a battery to forcibly put something on a person’s body without their consent.”
Earlier this month, some 20,000 people across Germany gathered in the German capital Berlin in protest of government-imposed measures that included domestic travel restrictions and mandatory masks for children in some parts of Europe at all times. her return to school later this month.
People were reported to be singing “We are the second wave” and “Resistance” outside the city’s Brandenburg Tormonument, Deutsche Welle (DW) of Germany reported.
According to anti-mask sentiment, it was growing in France, with some people saying they were boycotting certain stores or refusing to go into stores where they were asked to wear a mask, local people reported, Radio France Internationale reported (RFI).
“Some boycott certain stores, or they refuse to go into stores where they are asked to wear a mask,” one French local told France Info.
A resident of Le Mans in northwestern France told France Info: “It’s designed to panic, to get everyone to vaccinate themselves.”
More than 21.6 million people worldwide have been infected since the virus was first reported in Wuhan, China, including more than 5.4 million in the US. More than 13.6 million are thought to have recovered from infection, while more than 775,200 have died, according to the latest report Monday by Johns Hopkins University.
The image below, provided by Statista, illustrates countries with the most COVID-19 cases.
The image below, provided by Statista, illustrates a comparison of average new cases in the US and the European Union.
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