コロナ規制「我慢の限界」　醸造所やパブ経営者ら、ビールグラス並べて抗議

【プラハＡＦＰ＝時事】チェコの首都プラハ中心部で3日、霧に煙った底冷えのする午後の街角に、火がついたろうそくを入れたビールグラスが2、3メートル置きにずらりと並べられた。政府庁舎から歴史地区の旧市街広場まで1キロに及ぶ「ビールグラスの鎖」は、醸造所が主催した新型コロナウイルス規制への抗議デモだ。（写真はチェコ・プラハの旧市街広場で、政府の新型コロナウイルス対策への抗議としてパブ経営者らが並べたろうそく入りのビールグラス）
　プラハ南部で小さな醸造所を経営するイリ・ヤネチェクさんは、「私たちがここにいるのは心底絶望しているから。肉体的にも精神的にも、もう我慢の限界だ」とＡＦＰに語った。
　チェコは１人当たりのビール消費量で世界一を誇る。だが、ヤネチェクさんによると、昨年３月以降に政府が３回にわたって導入した飲食店の閉鎖措置により、酒造業界は打撃を受けた。
　事業補償も微々たるものだと不満をもらしたヤネチェクさんは、「規制を誤って発動し、貧困、失業、企業の倒産という（新型コロナよりも）はるかに致命的な大流行を引き起こした」と政府を非難した。
　ＥＵ加盟国で人口１０７０万人のチェコでは、昨年３月から新型ウイルスが流行。以来、感染者数は７４万人を超え、うち１万２０００人近くが死亡した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/01/05-10:13）

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 hurt the sector with its three 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, bemoaning paltry compensations for the business.
On the chilly, foggy 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 Czech government closed restaurants, pubs and bars before Christmas, reducing their sales to takeaway windows.
Restaurants in the country boasting the world's highest beer consumption per capita were already closed during the first wave of the epidemic in the spring and for most of this autumn.
An EU member of 10.7 million people, the Czech Republic has registered over 740,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases including almost 12,000 deaths since the March outbreak.
The country saw a massive spike in Covid-19 infections in October and has struggled to bring infection rates under control since then.