Protests against coronavirus lockdown measures spread in the UK and across Europe | ABC News

A wave of protests against coronavirus restrictions is sweeping across Europe.

Despite the easing of lockdown measures in many countries there’s a growing frustration with the economic impact.

For many life has become unbearable and they’re now more emboldened in pushing for a speedy return to normal.

Police in London have arrested 19 people for deliberately breaking social distancing guidelines to protest against the rules, as demonstrations against coronavirus lockdown measures swept across Europe.

The Metropolitan Police said a group in central London’s Hyde Park had been protesting about the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and had failed to comply with repeated requests to disperse.

In Germany, thousands of people across the country took to the streets on Saturday to protest against restrictions.

Germany’s death toll from the virus has been lower than most of its European neighbours and some lockdown measures have already been relaxed.

However, protests against the measures Chancellor Angela Merkel insists are needed to slow down the coronavirus outbreak have become more vocal and demonstrators have filled the streets for the second weekend in a row.

Derided on social media as “covidiots” who risk causing a second wave of infections that could lead to a tightening of restrictions, protesters staged demonstrations at several locations across the capital Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg.

Dozens of people, including a senator, were detained during a protest of business owners in the Polish capital against restrictions brought in to tackle the new coronavirus.

Warsaw police used tear gas against protesters, intervening in the demonstration after the city’s administrators claimed the gathering was illegal because it had not been previously approved.

Jacek Bury, a senator for the opposition Civic Platform party, said he was hurt by police when trying to defend another protester.

Police said in a statement that public gatherings were still banned under government restrictions.

Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-17/protests-against-coronavirus-lockdown-in-uk-and-europe-covid-19/12256802

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In This Story: COVID-19

Covid-19 is the official WHO name given to the novel coronavirus which broke out in late 2019 and began to spread in the early months of 2020.

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The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

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  • a high temperature (e.g. head feels warm to the touch)
  • shortness of breath (if this is abnormal for the individual, or increased)

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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe. It lies between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor. With over 83 million inhabitants of its 16 constituent states, it is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Berlin, and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

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During the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic, lockdown has come to mean the practice of attempting to control transmission of the virus by means of restricting people’s movement and activities on a broad scale, usually on a national or state-wide basis.

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The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence.

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