Thousands of Unmasked New Zealanders Protest Against COVID-19 Restrictions
Some of the placards that were flashed during the protest read 'Freedom' and 'Kiwis are not lab rats'.
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Thousands of New Zealanders (mostly unmasked) protested in front of the country's parliament on Tuesday, 9 November, against the government's measures aimed at curtailing COVID-19, New York Times reported.
Protesters were angry about the government-imposed lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Even though New Zealand has one of the lowest number of COVID-19 infections in the world, it has faced problems in resisting the extremely infectious delta variant of the virus.
The spike in infections has forced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to impose restrictions on social interactions.
Her government also recently announced that it would extend its vaccine mandate to include 40 percent of all workers, AP reported.
A total of 8,000 cases have been reported so far and 32 have died from the virus.
A total of 125 new cases were detected on Tuesday and the proportion of fully vaccinated people currently lies at around 80 percent.
Some of the placards that were flashed during the protest read 'Freedom' and 'Kiwis are not lab rats'.
Some even supported former United States (US) President Donald Trump and accused the media of spreading fake news about the virus.
"I will not be coerced and I will not be forced into taking something I don't want in my body," a protester told Reuters.
"I'm asking (the government) to give us back 2018. Simple as that. I want my freedoms back."
(With inputs from New York Times and Reuters.)
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