Thousands of protesters angry at COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday rallied in cities across Europe as several nations reimposed partial lockdowns to fight new surges in infections.
The virus, which has killed more than 2.7 million people, has been spreading faster recently, with the number of new infections up globally by 14 percent in the past week, Agence France-Presse data showed.
That has forced governments to impose social distancing and movement restrictions again, even as vaccines are rolled out, with residents in Poland, parts of France and Ukraine’s capital the latest to face fresh curbs.
Photo: Reuters
However, populations have grown increasingly weary of the economically painful restrictions, and frustrations spilled over in cities across Europe with thousands marching in Germany, Switzerland and the UK.
Demonstrators in the German city of Kassel held up signs including “End the lockdown” and “Corona rebels,” as they participated in a protest organized by activists from the far-left and the far-right, as well as peddlers of baseless conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
Authorities used water cannons, batons and pepper spray to disperse the Kassel protesters.
A Kassel police spokesman said they numbered between 15,000 and 20,000 — one of the largest such rallies so far this year.
Thousands also demonstrated in London against virus curbs, including many carrying signs promoting COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
The Metropolitan Police said that 36 people were arrested, most for breaking the restrictions, with a spokesperson adding that a group of about 100 demonstrators threw missiles at officers.
There were also anti-restriction protests in Amsterdam, Vienna, the Bulgarian capital of Sofia and the Swiss town of Liestal.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan became the latest world leader to test positive — two days after receiving China’s Sinopharm vaccine. The former cricketing legend is self-isolating with mild symptoms, his spokesman said.
Hopes of ending the pandemic have been boosted with rollouts starting in some poorer parts of the world as well, including Palestine, where authorities said they would start giving out shots yesterday.
With more than 400 million vaccine doses already injected globally, organizers of the Tokyo Olympics had previously billed this summer’s Games as a chance to provide “proof of humanity’s triumph over the virus.”
However, Olympics chiefs on Saturday announced that overseas fans would be banned, as it remains too risky to invite large international crowds to Japan.
“We have to ensure a safe and secure environment for all the participants,” said Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. “It was an unavoidable decision.”
The unprecedented ban would make the Tokyo Games the first ever without overseas spectators.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
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