Protesters against Coronavirus restrictions in Romania almost storm parliament.

 

Protesters in Romania. Reuters. 

Protesters against Coronavirus restrictions in Romania almost stormed parliament. Reuters. The protesters were kept out of parliament but they were able to block traffic and vandalize cars. The protests are a rejection of proposed restrictions on normal human activity based on the Coronavirus pandemic. No bill has been proposed yet but they have been discussing a system that would restrict participation in the economy without proof of either vaccination, recovery or a negative test. Romanians have largely rejected restrictions and are among the least vaccinated countries in Europe with only 40% being vaccinated.

My Comment:

The protests rocking Europe have been largely ignored by western media. They have been massive and have sometimes devolved into violence. This was probably the most serious as who knows what would have happened if they had managed to get into parliament?

These protests have been downplayed on purpose. The media does not want people to realize that people are rejecting these Coronvirus restrictions to the point of protests, marches and even riots. They want people that reject these restrictions to feel outnumbered and powerless when the exact opposite is true. 

Of course the restrictions are only happening because people are tolerating it. When people stand up and say enough it will end. Indeed, I am guessing that this proposed bill will not pass and nothing will come from it. I think the legislators will see this as an obvious warning to not proceed. 

Romania has been pretty skeptical about vaccines and I am not sure why. I am far from an expert on eastern Europe. My guess is that the people of Romania have seen this song and dance before and don't like it when the government tries to push them into doing something. They likely have little trust of the government.

What really gets me is that they are still trying to propose these restrictions in the wake of the Omicron variant. It seems very clear that the new variant is not a threat and is probably the off ramp for the pandemic. Not only does it seem to be less threatening than the formally dominant Delta, it seems like it is less dangerous than your average flu virus. As far as I can tell Omicron's death toll is in the single digits, and that's only people who have died with the virus, not necessarily from it. It's crazy to me that governments aren't backing down at this point...