Thousands take to streets over fresh curbs in Europe

PARIS－Thousands of protesters angry at COVID-19 restrictions rallied in cities across Europe on Saturday as several countries reimposed partial lockdowns to fight new surges in infections.

The coronavirus has been spreading faster recently, with the number of new infections up globally by 14 percent in the past week, according to Agence France-Presse.

That has forced governments to impose social distancing and movement restrictions again, even as vaccines are with people in Poland, parts of France and Ukraine's capital Kiev, the latest to face fresh curbs.

But populations have grown increasingly weary of the economically painful restrictions, and frustrations spilled over in cities across Europe with thousands marching in Germany, Britain and Switzerland.

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 both the far-left and the far-right, as well as peddlers of baseless conspiracy theories about the pandemic and vaccines.

Authorities used water cannon, batons and pepper spray to disperse the Kassel protesters, which a Kassel police spokesman said numbered between 15,000 and 20,000－one of the largest such rallies this year.

Thousands also demonstrated in London against virus curbs, including many carrying signs promoting coronavirus conspiracy theories. The Metropolitan Police said 36 people were arrested, most for breaking those restrictions, with a spokesperson adding a group of about 100 demonstrators threw missiles at officers.

"Several were injured as a result of targeted assaults," Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, who led the policing operation, said.

"It is totally unacceptable and saddening that officers enforcing regulations that are there to protect us all were the victims of violent attacks."

There were also anti-restrictions protests in Amsterdam, Vienna, the Bulgarian capital Sofia, and the Swiss town of Liestal.

Hopes of ending the pandemic have been boosted with vaccines being rolled out.

However, with the vaccine rollout being criticized in the European Union, figures from France's health ministry showed on Saturday only 11.7 percent of the adult population have got their first vaccine jab, and 4.7 percent of the adult population have completed their inoculation.

The French government aims to vaccinate 10 million people by mid-April, 20 million by mid-May and a total of 30 million, or two-thirds of adults, by mid-June. France resumed the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday after the EU's medicines regulator confirmed the vaccine is safe and efficient.

Better news for the UK came as the government said on Saturday that half the country's adults have received at least one dose of vaccine as the government races to reach everyone over the age of 18 by the end of July.

The National Health Service has put shots in the arms of 26.9 million people, or 51 percent of the adult population, according to the latest government figures.

The NHS passed the halfway point by delivering 589,689 first doses on Friday, the highest daily total since the mass vaccination program began in early December.

"It's a huge success," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a video celebrating the milestone.

Agencies - Xinhua