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23 2021world news A29

EU wants calm amid virus protests; rioters called “idiots”

(AP) — In the face of dem- said. ferent, producing “a pure ex-
onstrations across much of plosion of violence directed
Europe protesting tough Government leaders and against our police, against
COVID-19 measures over European Union officials all our firefighters, against am-
the past days, authorities made clear on Monday that bulance drivers.”
on Monday pleaded for a return to bygone days was
patience, calm and a will- still out of the question and Scenes were ugly too at the
ingness to get a vaccine that the violence at some of end of the Brussels protest
shot in the arm as infec- the marches was counterpro- march, with rioters pelting
tions spike upward again. ductive. police, who then used tear
gas and water cannons to
And for those who abused Rutte condemned rioters in break up the crowds.
the protests to foment vio- Rotterdam and across the
lence, Dutch Prime Minister Netherlands after corona- “Our goal today is to fight
Mark Rutte just called them virus protests there and in against the virus. Please, let
“idiots.” Brussels descended into vio- us not get incited by a small
lence amid simmering anger group which would turn it cy rooms. In riots across the said EU spokeswoman Dana
Protest marches from Zagreb at lockdown measures being into a fight against one an- country, youths threw fire- Spinant.
to Rome and from Vienna put into place in an attempt other,” said Belgian Prime works at police officers.
to Brussels and Rotterdam, to rein in soaring rates of in- Minister Alexander De Croo. “But it’s important from a
bringing tens of thousands fection. Much of the discontent how- community level to stick to-
out, all had one message The protests come as a fourth ever is also targeted at politi- gether and to follow those
from a coronavirus-weary Late Friday, police in Rotter- wave of infections is locking cians who had promised that restrictions because that’s the
crowd — we’ve had enough! dam even used live fire to dis- down Austrians and forcing vaccinations would bring way out of the pandemic,”
perse rioters gone amok, and renewed restraints in many freedom. With the delta vari- she said.
“Not able to work where you four people suffered gunshot European nations on any- ant making sure contagion
want work, to be where you wounds. Altogether in both thing from working in the remains rampant, EU gov- The EU pointed out that sci-
want to be. That’s not what countries almost 100 people office to drinking at bars. ernments are being forced entific evidence shows that
we stand for, that’s not free- were detained. to re-impose constraints and increased vaccinations would
dom,” said Eveline Denayer, The Dutch violence came a — in some countries — slap contain the crisis and avoid
who was at Sunday’s march “I realize that there are a lot week into a new partial lock- tougher restrictions on the more deaths.
in Brussels, which drew a of tensions in society because down in the Netherlands and non-vaccinated.
crowd of over 35,000. we have been dealing with after an announcement that “You know the three words
all the misery of coronavirus the government was banning “Of course, we see that the very well — vaccinate, vacci-
“We live in Western Europe for so long,” Rutte said. But fireworks on New Year’s constraints with which we nate, vaccinate,” said spokes-
and we just want to be free, he stressed the rioters were Eve in an effort to ease the have been living for almost man Stefan De Keersmaeck-
how we were before,” she something completely dif- strain on hospital emergen- two years can be tiresome,” er.

Sailboats packed with migrants seek Italy in latest tactic

(AP) — When the Taliban took Kabul They were dehydrated, but relieved While aid workers call these “1st Hamid and Zakia had a fraught od-
in August, Zakia was six months preg- to have survived a lesser-known mi- class” crossings, there is nothing elite yssey that cost far more than most:
nant and in her first year of univer- gration route to Europe that is in- about them. Hamid and Zakia were After escaping Kabul with Hamid’s
sity while her husband, Hamid, was creasingly being used by wealthier packed with 100 people below deck sister, her husband and their three
working as an auditor. They decided Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians and Kurds. for a week as food supplies dwindled. children, the family arrived in Tur-
to flee, and along with five relatives, Entire families are paying top price After two days without fresh water, key and paid 8,500 euros ($9,600) for
began a two-month odyssey that took for passage from Turkey aboard new Zakia couldn’t feel the baby moving each adult and 4,000 euros ($4,500)
them through Iran and Turkey. or nearly new sailboats that can more inside her anymore. for each child to get to Calabria. Ha-
easily avoid detection by authorities. mid’s parents in Sweden helped fi-
When it was time to cross the Medi- Investigators say they are captained For years, most political, humani- nance the trip.
terranean, they did so on an expensive by smugglers, often Ukrainians, who tarian and media attention has fo-
sailboat that came ashore this month may be in cahoots with Turkish mob- cused on the hundreds of thousands Hamid’s 29-year-old sister, Tooba,
on a beach in the southern Italian re- sters and Italian ’ndrangheta clans on of migrants, most of them Africans, who speaks good English, said the
gion of Calabria. shore. who cross the central Mediterranean family decided to risk their lives on
aboard unseaworthy vessels launched the journey because life in Afghani-
by smugglers from Libya and Tunisia. stan under Taliban rule was no lon-
ger safe, especially given her work as
The Calabrian route, which brings a lawyer.
the migrants from Turkey to the “toe”
of boot-shaped Italy rather than Sicily Hamid said the smugglers provided
and its islands further south, has seen enough water for the first four or five
a nearly four-fold increase in arrivals days, but that after it ran out, the pas-
in 2021 and now accounts for 16% of sengers drank seawater with sugar for
the sea arrivals in Italy this year. the final two days.

The U.N. High Commissioner for When the sailboat approached shore,
Refugees is monitoring the situa- the passengers came up on deck only
tion closely, though the increase in to see the two smugglers who had
Calabrian arrivals is mirrored by a captained the ship, both wearing ski
similarly sharp increase in migrants masks, fleeing the scene in a black
arriving in Sicilian ports. Overall, boat.
sea arrivals in Italy this year are up to
59,000 compared with 32,000 at this The sailboats are difficult to inter-
point last year. The Calabrian route cept since even to aerial patrols, they
has seen 9,687 arrivals as of Nov. 14, look like normal pleasure boats. The
compared with 2,507 last year. “Passion Dalaware” was even flying a
plastic American flag from its sail.