Police have scattered or detained hundreds of protesters against Covid-19 lockdowns in Hungary, Austria and Belgium, as ongoing quarantine systems across Europe hurt the economic and social toll of nearly a year of restrictions on business, travel and community life.
Police in Brussels said on Sunday they arrested dozens of people in an attempt to prevent two banned demonstrations against measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. “We are currently over 200 arrested,” mainly around the train stations in the Belgian capital, a police spokesman said around noon.
The police cleared a square in front of the central station, where some protesters were football supporters of Belgian clubs. Dozens of people who responded to calls on social media also began to gather at the Atomium monument in Brussels.
“We remind you that there is no permission to come and demonstrate next Sunday,” Brussels police said in a tweet. “The people who want to demonstrate in Brussels today will be approached, discouraged to stay and if necessary [detained], ”it said.
Belgium has one of the highest death rates in the world during the coronavirus pandemic, but restrictions on closing bars and restaurants since October and a curfew have reduced infection and hospital cases in the past two months.
The country banned non-essential travel in and out of the country until March 1 last week.
Belgium’s neighbor, the Netherlands, was startled by anti-curfew riots last week. But protesters took a different tack in Apeldoorn on Sunday with the call to “drink coffee together”.
About 400 people peacefully dispersed in the central Dutch city after gathering for an authorized demonstration at a community center.
In Amsterdam, a heavy police presence prevented a predominantly peaceful but unauthorized demonstration.
About 5,000 people defied a ban on marching in Vienna in protest of a curfew and lockdown to prevent the spread of new Covid-19 variants.
The march was organized by the far-right FPOe party, and many participants ignored government regulations on wearing masks and the need to keep minimum distances from each other.
Neo-Nazi militants and criminals were reportedly among the crowd, who refused to disband and blocked traffic as it began marching towards the national parliament. Police intervened and detained some protesters.
Police also dispersed protesters during a Sunday rally in Budapest where workers in the country’s struggling hospitality industry demanded civil disobedience and a reconsideration of lockdown restrictions.
The organizers of the demonstration in a central square in Hungary’s capital called on restaurateurs to violate pandemic rules by opening their business to customers Monday, in spite of strict pandemic measures restricting restaurants and cafes to takeout.
“Every tool we have used so far has been exhausted, so from now on every business must be opened in the spirit of civil disobedience,” said protest organizer Aron Ecsenyi.
The demonstration was accompanied by increasing calls for government action from the Hungarian hospitality industry as the country’s lockdown, which began on November 11, approaches the three-month mark. The Hungarian government has insisted that only mass vaccination of the population can end the lockdown.
The pandemic restrictions were extended to March 1 on Thursday, and many entrepreneurs are complaining that they have received little or none of the promised financial support from the government, while other businesses, such as malls and shops, are allowed to remain open.
Polish police said they raided discos in the cities of Wrocław and Rybnik that opened on Saturday in violation of coronavirus restrictions, using stun grenades and tear gas to clear the dance floor.
Nearly 150 officers were deployed at the Face 2 Face club in Rybnik, local police said on Sunday. Two officers were injured and police arrested three men and checked the identity papers of 213 others.
Similar operations requiring less violence were held in the southwestern city of Wrocław, police said.
As is the case elsewhere, restrictions on dance and sports clubs, hotels, restaurants and ski resorts in Poland met with opposition and some venues have decided to open despite the risk of heavy fines.
Poland has recorded more than 37,000 Covid-19 deaths from more than 1.5 million cases in a population of 38 million people.