Prague protests restrictions with beer glass chain
PROTESTERS built a chain of beer glasses containing lit candles in central Prague on Sunday to challenge restrictions adopted to combat the Covid-19 spread.
The kilometre (0.6 mile) long chain led from the government building to the historic Old Town Square, with glasses placed two or three metres (yards) apart.
“We are here because we are really desperate and at the end of our tether, physically and mentally,“protest organiser Jiri Janecek told AFP.
The manager of the Maly Janek small brewery south of Prague complained that the government was hurting the sector with its restaurant closures since the Covid-19 outbreak last March.
“The government misfired with its restrictions and kicked off a far more lethal pandemic of poverty, unemployment, collapsing companies,“said Janecek.
On the chilly Sunday afternoon, protesters lit candles and placed them in beer glasses handed out by the organisers, which they then put on the pavement.
Some carried Czech flags and the organisers put up a coffin with nails as a symbol of the looming death of their business.
“I don’t like the bans, the restrictions affecting our personal freedom, you cannot go anywhere, nothing’s going on. I don’t like this kind of life,“protester Veronika Musilova told AFP.
Facing yet another spike in Covid-19 cases, the government closed restaurants, pubs and bars before Christmas, reducing their sales to takeaway windows. The country saw a spike in cases in October and has struggled to bring infection rates under control since then. – AFP-Relaxnews