Off Topic Coronavirus

why is there still a blockade against cuba
is it a hangover from trump or was there a blockade under obama

 

Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clash with police in Dublin
The Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, condemns ‘thuggish behaviour’ of demonstrators who threw missiles at police

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Sun 28 Feb 2021 00.12 GMT First published on Sat 27 Feb 2021 20.24 GMT

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Gardaí restrain a protester during the anti-lockdown march described by the premier as an ‘unacceptable risk to the public and gardaí’. Photograph: Damian Eagers/PA
Ireland’s premier has slammed the “thuggish behaviour” and attacks on Irish police as anti-lockdown protesters stormed Dublin city centre.

Up to 20 people were arrested after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police as they marched through the city centre and attempted to make their way to St Stephen’s Green park.

There was a heavy police presence around the city centre ahead of the protest, which started at around 2pm, and police used batons to push protesters away from the park.

Videos of the protest show a demonstrator point a firework at gardaí before it went off, while other missiles and items were thrown at the police.

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Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said: “Very regrettably, people arrived intent on violence. They engaged in attacks on members of An Garda Síochána including the throwing of a firework type device. There will be a full investigation into this.

He added: “You don’t carry a firework to a protest with any other purpose than to engage in violent conduct. We will follow through with an investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Protesters were prevented from gathering in the park after the Office of Public Works closed the gates.

The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said he “utterly condemns” the protests, saying the demonstrators – many of whom did not wear masks – posed “an unacceptable risk to both the public and gardaí”.

In a statement, Martin said: “The large gathering, in the face of ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, showed a complete lack of respect to the people who have made huge sacrifices during this pandemic.

“Nor can we tolerate the thuggish behaviour or attacks on gardaí, who have the public’s utmost respect as they continue to protect and serve our society in difficult circumstances.

“There can be no justification for the march or the violence that unfolded, and I pay tribute to members of An Garda Síochána who moved quickly to make arrests and restore order.”

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Dutch leaders condemn 'criminal' clashes at anti-lockdown protests
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The deputy premier, Leo Varadkar, said he was “horrified” to see protesters clash with police.

Varadkar tweeted: “Irish people have spent last year fighting Covid. There is no excuse for violence to gardaí or anyone.

“This behaviour on Grafton St by a selfish few undermines sacrifices that millions have made in the last 12 months.”

The minister for justice, Helen McEntee, described the clashes as “completely unacceptable”.

In a statement, McEntee said that she had been told on Saturday evening that the disturbance in Dublin was being brought under control.

After a number of arrests on Saturday, a special court sitting was being arranged to ensure speedy prosecutions. Fixed charge notices were also issued to a number of people.

McEntee commended the police’s “courage and professionalism” in responding “with great control and discipline in an extremely challenging situation”.

Ireland is facing its ninth week of level 5 restrictions.

Paul Reid, head of Ireland’s health service, tweeted on Saturday about the continued improvement in the figures, adding: “Our healthcare teams are exhausted.

But getting their vaccination and the great signs of it reducing transmission is giving us all a second wind. We are winning, it’s just not over yet.”

On Friday night, the government added 13 more countries to its list in which travellers arriving from the locations have to undergo mandatory isolation for 14 days.

They include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

 

Very odd when we're so close to getting out of lockdown.

 

All this Brazil variant stuff.......how the **** did people get in without proper quarantine, and can those who dodged their way through be prosecuted for manslaughter for the inevitable deaths?

 

Brazil variant.....South Africa variant.....Kent variant.........

****ing hell......if they soon discover a Staines upon Thames variant I’m outta here.

 

Yes, disgraceful scenes in Dublin yesterday. Less than a Thousand extreme right wing anti-maskers, anti lockdown, anti-vaccine, virus deniers gather to demand an end to the lockdown as they can't go to the pub, buy clothes, can't operate their business's and pay their bills. No consideration for what is best for the country overall to protect the health of everybody.

This current lockdown is due to end Easter Monday 5th April. Considering the lockdown before Christmas ended in early December and was then followed by a free for all Christmas with case numbers of nearly 8,000 one day mid-January, there is no chance of the government allowing us to have a free for all Easter. Hopefully after Easter, the restrictions will be eased gradually. In the meantime, the bored youth see fit to riot.

 

You might be in the UK, but we're not......

Yesterday was a demonstration by assorted covid deniers, anti vaxers, far left and far right activists..... why this was allowed in the current climate wirh travel restrictions etc beggars belief......but there is a building resentment against the ruling coalition government that we're being taken for fools......in the 2 weeks to 21st Feb almost 8k people entered the country many from so called red zone counties but the garda have been unable to monitor self isolation due to GDPA limitations as data is held by health department and garda unable to access it.....
The media seem unwilling or unable to question government decisions and we're basically held in lockdown for another 6 weeks.....peeps are getting fairly pissed off as the vaccination programme is snail paced due to the good old EU.....

Rant over

 

The virus has just naturally mutated into the "Brazil" variant here. It has not been carried in by anyone.

It is just a path of mutations that the virus is following.
No conspiracy...just nature showing how damn clever it is.

 

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Lord Samuel Jack II

@SamuelJJack2

Can we have some more domestic variants please?

The Slough variant which makes you drink polish lager.

The Leamington Spa variant that makes you drink Prosecco and eat Parma Ham.

The Mancunian variant that makes you wear parkas and punch people.

 

They obviously know Stan then.....

 

They are very busily and publicly trying to trace people who have arrived in the U.K. over the last two weeks from Brazil via various other international hubs. You might well be right Beth, but the news is saying that the government is interested in people who have arrived this way and those who were exposed to them. Cases in South Gloucestershire and Aberdeen are directly related to travel from Brazil.

If they believe these cases are directly due to travel from Brazil then they could have done something about travel from Brazil and the individuals involved also have to take some responsibility.

 

That cannot be true Stan..

Our borders are now closed.
Everyone is locked up in hotels...just to stop this happening ..

So it cannot be true

 

The borders should be as good as closed imo.

 

You’re right of course, I’ve got it wrong somewhere.

Or at least apply the current laws effectively. Never the Home Office’s strong point, I’ll admit.

 

There's always ways around this though..... In Scotland, all International arrivals have to quarantine for ten days and pay the £1750 fee (not just the 33 countries on the red list)...however, the cases in Aberdeen apparently flew into London, and then got internal flights up, thus bypassing the quarantine rules. This is why the Scottish Government had been asking Westminster to impose the same rules as we have up here.

 

We have a Brazilian community here of 30,000. They discovered 3 cases of the Brazilian variant here after we allowed 2,000 Brazilians in this calendar year. We didn't have compulsory quarantine in place for Brazilians until quite recently. Just stay home for 14 days like good lads was our laid back attitude. I know for a fact that a lot of the Brazilians living here have European passports due to Grandparents born in various EU countries. We have a free travel area with the UK where people can travel both ways freely without even showing a passport. A Brazilian with an EU passport could easily have gotten here (via a European hub) and at a later date, travelled on to the U.K. Not that likely I know but perfectly possible.

 

why
Nearly a quarter of NHS staff in London are refusing Covid vaccines

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https://t.co/bWUkJOTlZW?amp=1

 

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John Karter

@JohnKarter01

Sunday Times today -
200,000 healthcare workers refusing to have the Covid vaccine.
What do they know that we don't

 

A lot of BAME folk.