Europeans with lockdown fatigue have taken to the streets in protest over their governments’ decisions to enforce new mandates aimed to fight the spread of the second wave of COVID on the continent.
Irate protesters said their businesses were devastated by the first round of lockdowns that began in March and the new round will put them out of business.
“What we want is not just aid money,” Francis Palombi, head of the Confederation of French Traders, told the Financial Times. “We want above all to open, open, open!”
The second wave of virus infections on the continent has prompted governments to implement similar lockdown standards enforced during the first wave. Reports indicate small business owners like bakers, restauranteurs, and theater-owners were willing to accept the first mandates because so much about the virus was new.
But many business owners now appear to be scoffing at the new mandates because more is understood about the virus, who it affects, and why. They say the previous lockdown measures failed, and now the governments are doubling down on failure. They also say the economy should not be a casualty for a disease that is only dangerous to a small percentage of the population.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been criticized by small business merchants who say the mandates in France clearly benefit the mega-chains and online stars like Amazon.
“You have small traders against whom the big retailers are competing and so you say, ‘OK, no competition, we’ll shut down everything for everybody,’ and at the end of the day, it’s a godsend for Amazon, which will be the only name able to sell in this period of lockdown,” Olivier Faure, the leader of France’s Socialist party, told France 2 television, the FT reported.
Getting Worse
The European Commission warned last Thursday that Europe’s planned recovery could be weaker than previously assumed due to the virus’ resurgence, Fortune magazine reported. The EU’s GDP for 2021 is expected to come in at 4.1 percent, followed by 3 percent in 2022, which means the recovery would take at least two years “until the European economy comes close to regaining its pre-pandemic level.”
ITALY. As we have reported, protests have broken out across Italy over Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s orders that essentially break up the country into three zones, based on infection rates in each area.
In Milan, which has the strictest guidelines, residents and business owners have lockdown fatigue. Despite rules against eating outside, people have been seen standing outside cafés drinking coffee despite the orders.
One taxi driver, who was protesting lockdown orders just outside Rome, told Reuters he simply cannot afford to not work. “We don’t have money to pay the monthly costs of our vehicles, we don’t have enough money to provide for our families,” he said.
Reuters reported that Prime Minister Conte justified the measures and compared the virus to a train. “We hope these latest measures will only last a few weeks,” he said. “The virus is like a train on the move. Today we need to slow down, otherwise, this train will hit us.”
TRENDPOST: Again, when the virus first hit Italy in February, the average age of those who died was over 80 years old. Of those who are dying of the virus now, the media doesn’t report ages and pre-existing illnesses. In addition, throughout Europe, some 50 percent of the victims were from eldercare homes, yet this fact is also ignored by the press.
Conte’s remark that the virus is “like a train that will hit us” is juvenile and moronic. Indeed, it is a train that will hit those most susceptible to the virus, but not the entire Italian population. And, as with all statements by politicians and the media, there is no mention of people building their immune systems, eating healthy, getting in better shape… or a mention of vitamin and other natural remedies.
Instead, it is only the vaccine that counts, and, now, as reported yesterday, the vaccine countdown has begun: U.S. Big Pharma giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech announced their coronavirus vaccine was “more than 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19.”
GREECE. Greece announced a nationwide strict lockdown that includes a ban on all non-essential travel, wearing of masks indoors and outdoors in any public place, plus the following regulations that went into effect on Saturday:
“Citizens are allowed movement (with identification on them) outdoors only for the following reasons:
- To go and return from work during working hours,
- To go to a pharmacy or attending an appointment with a doctor,
- To go to the supermarket if it is not possible for groceries to be delivered,
- To go to a public service office with a scheduled appointment and to the bank strictly if online transactions are not possible,
- To provide assistance to people in need or to accompany young students (minors) to/from school,
- To exercise outdoors (jogging) or walk a pet, solitary or strictly in pairs and observing the necessary distance of 1.5 meters from one another.”
Violators of the rules would be fined up to 300 euros.
On Friday night, before this second lockdown took place, anti-lockdown protesters, comprised mostly young people, clashed with police.
TREND FORECAST: To young people, COVID-19 is an “old people’s disease.” We continue to note this is a key market sector to provide goods and services that address their emotions, needs, and desires, which currently are not being fulfilled.
GERMANY. Virtually unreported in the American press, this past Saturday, some 20,000 Germans protested in Leipzig over new lockdown measures that will extend throughout November, according to DW.com. There were violent clashes with police that involved “numerous attacks against security forces,” police said.
Germany has had a total of 11,226 deaths and a daily record of 23,000 new cases. The protesters called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to step down and chanted, “Peace, Freedom, No Dictatorship!”
The FT reported Merkel used “uncharacteristically emotional language” in her address to the nation and said if her country abides by the orders and infection levels drop, Germany may be able to have a “bearable December.”
Merkel ridiculed those opposing her dictates saying her measures were met with “doubts, skepticism, and hostility” and that the “virus punishes half-heartedness.”
She “urged” citizens to accept the rules because they “don’t have any other option.”
TRENDPOST: We note the demeaning language used by Ms. Merkel, which the press accepts and promotes as well, for all those who do not want to give up their rights and freedom to join the COVID War.
For example, Ms. Merkel dismisses anyone not believing what she is selling as having unwarranted “doubts.” And, the people have no right to express “skepticism” of what she believes nor show “hostility” for losing their businesses, lives, and livelihoods.
Moreover, in what is sold as a democracy, she told the citizens of Slavelandia they “don’t have any other option” than to obey her.
TRENDPOST: Totally ignored by Presstitutes and politicians is the fact that after nine months of fighting the COVID War, Germany, with 83,879,886 people, registered 11,657 virus related deaths or just 0.0139 of its population. Yet, yet draconian lockdown rules are imposed. When people protest, don’t believe what they are told, and fight for their freedom, they are chastised.
Furthermore, this is the same Western media that continually champions New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as the supreme commander of the COVID War, whose state of 19.5 million has registered some 33,840 virus deaths, which equals 0.1735 percent of the population.
U.K. Anti-lockdown protests erupted in London last Thursday, resulting in 190 arrests. One protester could face a €10,000 fine for allegedly organizing the protest, the BBC reported.
The Guardian reported that the protest in central London was called the “Million Mask March.”
“My business has closed again, and it was closed for six months,” a woman from the city told the paper. “I managed to get nine weeks [of sales]. Last Thursday was the first day that I felt it was getting back to how it used to be, and then Saturday we got the lockdown news.”
Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown after the country confirmed one million COVID cases. Under the guidelines, bars, restaurants, and other non-essential shops will remain closed, and residents can only leave their homes for specific reasons, such as exercise.