<Anchor>
European countries are starting to tighten the reins of quarantine measures as the spread of Corona is accelerating even in Europe, which started to recover daily before us. Protests against the strengthening quarantine measures continued throughout the weekend.
Kwak Sang-eun is a reporter.
<Reporter>
Police fire water cannons at protesters, and fires rise in the streets.
In the Belgian capital, Brussels, protesters poured into the streets to protest the government's tightening of COVID-19 restrictions and clashed with police.
In the process, some were injured and some were arrested.
As the Belgian government, surprised by the rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases, expanded the application of vaccine certificates and tightened regulations such as making telecommuting mandatory, more than 30,000 citizens a day in Brussels yesterday (21st) joined the protest.
Violent protests also broke out in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after police fired warning shots, injuring four people and arresting 50 others.
[Rotterdam resident: Yesterday was chaos itself. I was watching and there were people setting fire here and there.] In
Austria, a crowd of nearly 40,000 took part in protests against a total ban on going out and mandatory vaccinations for all citizens in February next year, and in Switzerland, Italy and Croatia all weekend Protests ensued.
Currently, the spread of COVID-19 infection in Europe is becoming more and more serious.
A French government spokesperson said that the COVID-19 epidemic is progressing at a "lightning speed" and that they will discuss expanding the target of the booster shot vaccine to those over 40 years old.
The World Health Organization's European Director-General Hans Kluge has warned that the death toll from the coronavirus could exceed 500,000 in Europe by March next year unless urgent action is taken.