Romania: anti-vaxxers try to storm parliament
In Bucharest, around 300 anti-vaccine activists stormed past police guarding the parliament building and pushed their way into the inner courtyard. The Romanian parliament is currently debating "vaccinated, recovered, or tested" rules in the workplace. The protest was initiated by the ultranationalist AUR party, which is itself represented in the parliament. Columnists urge politicians not to give in to the protesters.
Authorities must know how to deal with anti-vaxxers
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians party (AUR) is trying to ride the wave of discontent, says republica.ro:
“This is not a protest of the people, a section of the Romanian population, rebellious citizens who tend to protest spontaneously. No. This is an action organised by the AUR party, which wants to increase its votes, which are already numerous enough. ... But this symptom manifests in every country. Even civilised countries are not spared. This is a symptom that is linked to conspiracy theories, to the anti-vaxxers, to the rejection of Covid certificates, which is also evident in Romania. We cannot escape it. What is important is that the authorities and the parliament know how to deal with it.”
Politicians willing to accept more deaths
Columnist Mihai Oprişor reminds us in Spotmedia that Romania has far laxer anti-Covid regulations than other countries, for example no 3-G rules (vaccinated, recovered, tested) for public institutions:
“It seems that our politicians believe it is better to accept a death toll three times higher than the European average than to silence the lying vaccination opponents. They seem to prefer to live with the fact that - once again - we are the shame of Europe. Frankly, I had expected physician [and health minister] Alexander Rafila to campaign for measures to curb the death toll in the case of the Omicron wave.”