As we have been reporting in the Trends Journal, over the last several weeks, with virus cases rising, governments across Europe have imposed new rounds of draconian lockdown rules in their fight to win the next round of the COVID War.
While there were sporadic protests in Germany, Ireland, France, Spain, and the U.K. over the past few months, with more citizens losing everything and having nothing left to lose, they are losing it… taking to the streets and refusing to follow the new mandates.
Here’s a picture of what’s going on throughout Europe.
GERMANY. “The government wasted the summer and didn’t prepare for the second wave which everyone knew was coming, and now they are using the same lockdown as before,” Antonio Bragato, the owner of the Il Calice restaurant in Berlin, told the Wall Street Journal last week.
Bragato told the paper he secured a loan for $292,000 while the German city was under its first lockdown and invested in equipment for outdoor dining with hopes the country would bounce back after it. Now, unfortunately, that decision might just add to his financial hardship.
Angela Merkel, the country’s chancellor, defended her decision on Thursday to reinstate the national lockdown, the same day the country announced 16,774 new cases and 89 deaths.
She criticized those in the country who question the virus’s health risk and said, “Lies and disinformation, conspiracy theories and hatred damage not only the democratic debate but also the fight against the virus,” according to Reuters.
The new lockdowns will last a month and include restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters. The WSJ reported that 50 percent agree with the measures, while about a third found them excessive.
About 2,000 protesters took to the streets at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz on Sunday to voice their consternation over Merkel’s new orders, DW.com reported.
“We are here and we are loud because we are being robbed of our freedom,” some in the crowd chanted. The report said elderly residents and children also took part in the protest.
Christian Lindner, the leader of the opposition Free Democrats, reportedly told parliament on Thursday that he hopes the measures will stop the wave but questioned how many more lockdowns could be coming in the future.
“Will there be another lockdown in January?” he asked. “No one is speaking about that.”
FRANCE. After saying COVID’s second wave in France will “probably be harder and more murderous than the first,” French President Emmanuel Macron announced last Wednesday the country would begin a lockdown that lasts until, at the minimum, 1 December.
Residents in the country are urged to stay home as much as possible, but schools will remain open, according to France 24. The report said the French government determined that the spring lockdown was detrimental to students, and many fell behind during virtual classes. Masks will be required in all public spaces, and museums, concert halls, and gyms will be shuttered.
As they did during the first lockdown in March, people will need permission certificates to go to school, work, or to shop.
Restaurants, which are considered non-essential, will be able to remain open but only for takeout. Videos emerged of traffic jams out of Paris shortly after Macron’s announcement. Estimates said the traffic jam stretched over 400 miles. The Daily Mail reported many wanted to avoid the city’s 9:00 PM curfew before the lockdown’s midnight start. The report said many were leaving the city to get to their second homes.
Some demonstrators in Paris chanted, “Liberté,” and some broke store windows.
“We are all in the same position: overrun by a second wave which we know will be harder, more deadly than the first,” Macron said. “I have decided that we need to return to the lockdown which stopped the virus.”
The state-run Anadolu Agency posted photos of the aftermath of the protests showing demonstrators lighting fireworks and flares and toppling garbage bins.
“We were already sinking and now we will definitely sink,” Eric Hassan, the owner of an antique shop in Paris, told the Wall Street Journal. “What we have been building our entire life is disappearing, the economy is collapsing – but those politicians and senators, they will still have their salaries and their pensions.”
The paper spoke with another restaurant worker, who said, “If the government now tries to prevent people from seeing each other and their families on Christmas, there will be a revolution in this country.”
BELGIUM. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced new lockdown measures across the country last Friday that limit the number of people who can visit homes and how many people are allowed to venture outside in groups.
“We are going towards of being forced confinement with only one goal: avoiding that healthcare services collapse,” he said, according to the Financial Times. “It is now in our hands, it is in your hands. These really are the last-chance measures and it’s up to all of us to make sure that these measures produce a result.”
EuroNews reported that De Croo defended his measures by saying the country is in a health emergency and “the pressure on the hospitals is immense and the healthcare personnel are making superhuman efforts to save lives every day.”
The report said Belgium has 11.5 million people and, as of last Friday, there were 6,187 people hospitalized and 1,057 in intensive care with the virus. There were 100,000 new cases last week, the report said. Frank Vandenbroucke, the country’s health minister, said Belgium is facing a “tsunami” of cases, the Financial Times reported.
There have been protests in Brussels over the new restrictions, and 71 people were arrested in the city last Sunday. The Brussels Times reported one demonstrator blasted the “COVID-19 dictatorship.”
EuroNews reported that De Croo said the new measures will last for “at least a month and a half.”
GREECE. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced last Saturday the closure of non-essential businesses like bars, cafes, and restaurants in parts of the country that have seen a dramatic increase in virus cases, the Associated Press reported.
“We must act now, before intensive care units buckle under the strain of lives in danger,” he said, according to the AP. “The virus is attacking in waves, and we need to quickly adapt.”
The country of 10.72 million saw 2,056 new cases last Friday and six deaths resulting from infections, the report said. The country has had 39,251 total cases and 626 deaths, the AP reported.
Nikos Hardalias, Civil Protection Minister, said the average age of new infections “suggests there is a big correlation with gatherings for entertainment, sport and other activities,” which suggests those becoming infected are young Greeks.
It has been widely documented, however, that the virus is far less deadly among the young. New York said 48.7 percent of its COVID deaths occurred in those 75 years old or older.
ITALY. Italians lashed out at their government’s latest lockdown measures, which include bars and restaurants being forced to close at 6:00 PM for a month, and they blame Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for overlooking the economic hardships these measures inflict.
Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigration League party and critic of coronavirus lockdowns, told the Financial Times on Friday that government officials fail to recognize these same restaurants and bars that are being forced to close have worked hard and spent money to comply with strict re-opening guidelines.
“Why take it out on them?” he asked, according to the paper.
Jason Horowitz, a New York Times reporter in Rome, wrote an article appearing in Sunday’s paper titled, “In Italy, Like Everywhere the Virus Goes, It’s the Discontent That’s Contagious.” Horowitz wrote that, in Italy, “if people are not sick with the virus, they are sick of it. In Italy, the discontent is exploding.”
Emanuele Tudini, a bar owner in central Rome, told Horowitz that in the beginning of the outbreak, his wife would cheer doctors and first responders from their apartment window. There were scenes where Italians played music and sang from their balconies in Milan. But Tudini told the paper that sentiment has changed.
“We’ve reached the end of our rope,” he said. “There’s a ton of rage and suffering.”
Italy has seen protests break out across the country, and police officers have used tear gas on demonstrators in Milan and Naples. One protest last week led to 28 arrests. The BBC reported taxi drivers congregated in Turin, and restaurant workers banged pots to express their frustrations. Violent protests broke out, and stores such as Gucci and other luxury boutiques were ransacked.
The report pointed out the country’s economy is expected to shrink by 10 percent this year. The country of 60.36 million has had 679,000 cases and 38,618 deaths. Last Friday, the country had 297 new cases.
Video emerged on TikTok showing riot police in Turin removing their helmets in a show of solidarity with protesters. Those in the crowd were seen cheering when the officers made the gesture.
Conte suffered some backlash after he told his country the lockdowns might give them a chance to have a “serene” Christmas. The FT reported that a right-wing journalist in the country hit back on the comment and wrote Conte was threatening them with “coal on Christmas” and had “transformed citizens into children.”
SPAIN. Violent protests broke out last Friday in Barcelona over the government’s latest COVID restrictions in place to combat the country’s second wave of infections.
“This is theft! This is a scam!” the protesters shouted, according to the paper.
Videos emerged online that showed protesters hurling rocks at police vehicles, and riots broke out at some locations, according to the Washington Post. The latest restrictions include limits on social gatherings and curfews and are expected to last until next May.
“After all we’ve had to endure over the past months this is the final slaughter,” David Polo, a protester who owns a restaurant, told Reuters.
Like other countries, restrictions and lockdown mandates vary by the number of new infections. The country of nearly 47 million had 1.2 million infections and 35,878 deaths. On 30 October, there were 25,000 new cases.
The Post reported that country officials have closed the hospitality industry and barred any travel during the weekend not considered “essential.”
ENGLAND. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last Saturday a second national lockdown and warned Christmas may be “very different” due to the virus outbreak.
Johnson apologized to business owners and said he understands the new orders put a new strain on businesses still trying to recover from the previous restrictions. Johnson said “no responsible prime minister” could turn his back to the mortality rate in the country, which he said has been worse than in April.
The New York Times reported last Friday there have been 1,489 patients hospitalized in Britain with COVID symptoms, and 274 have died. The paper’s database indicated that Britain has had over one million cases, and the death toll is 58,925. CNN reported the Office for National Statistics estimates 1 in 100 people in England have COVID-19.
CNN reported the new guidelines order the lockdown of pubs, restaurants, and other businesses deemed non-essential. The report said that people can leave their homes only for work, their education, or other specific reasons, such as shopping for food.
“Christmas is going to be different this year, perhaps very different, but it’s my sincere hope and belief that by taking tough action now we can allow families across the country to be together,” Johnson said.
SLOVAKIA. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovic said Monday about 3.6 million residents in the country were given the COVID antigen test to determine the number of those affected with the virus.
Euronews reported that the testing campaign is voluntary, and the country hopes to test all 5.5 million residents. Those who refuse to get tested must quarantine for 14 days. To date, of Slovakia’s 5.5 million citizens, 235 have died of the virus since February or 0.00427 percent of the population.
Mike Tildesley, an infectious disease modeling expert at the University Warwick, told CNN that the mass testing has some shortcomings.
“It is important to realize that just because someone tests negative it does not mean they will necessarily be free from infection a few days later,” he told the network. “So any mass testing strategy needs to be carried out at regular intervals [every few days] in order to be an effective strategy and to allow some lockdown measures to be relaxed.”
TRENDPOST: As we have noted, the “Greatest Depression” has been accelerated by knee-jerk reactions from politicians to grab for more to fight the COVID War.
As the numbers prove, the death rate of the virus in Slovakia is minuscule. Instead of taking a pragmatic approach that focuses on protecting the vulnerable and encouraging good hygiene, states in the U.S. and countries in Europe have taken a sledgehammer to their economies with little to no benefit in preventing new infections.
Moreover, we forecast that just as the nation has imposed mandatory testing, so, too, will they mandate mandatory COVID vaccinations, which will result in anti-vax, anti-establishment political movements.
TREND FORECAST: Already devastated by the lost tourist season this past summer and with businesses long suffering from the spring lockdowns – plus the long list of governments’ rules and restrictions that have been imposed on them and the public – Europe’s economy was in sharp decline.
Now, with the new round of lockdown mandates across the continent, as we have outlined in the Trends Journal, Europe will sink deeper into the “Greatest Depression.”
Indeed, even the front-page headline in yesterday’s Financial Times illustrates the economic dangers ahead: “Eurozone growth outlook darkens after lockdowns fuel downgrades.”
“Lockdowns fuel downgrades”? How about, “Lockdowns fuel economic disaster, social unrest, rising crime, increasing poverty, government protests, and have destroyed countless lives and livelihoods”?
As winter sets in, economic conditions will sharply deteriorate, and anti-lockdown protests will escalate. As we have forecast, new anti-tax, anti-vax, anti-lockdown, anti-establishment political parties and social movements will accelerate.
