“I’ll Kill You!”: Anti-vaxxer attacks doctor in Bulgaria – Brussels police clash with anti-vaccination protesters – Rioters attack Guadeloupe hospital staff – Cornwall judge jails anti-vaxxer who called in bomb threats to school and vaccine health centers

23 January 2022 (VOA News) – Police in Brussels fired water cannon and clouds of tear gas at 50,000 protesters demonstrating Sunday against COVID-19 vaccinations and restrictions European authorities are imposing to try to contain the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Some of the protesters came from France, Germany, and other countries, shouting “Liberty!” as they marched through the headquarters city of the European Union. Videos showed some black-clad protesters attacking a building used by the EU’s diplomatic service, hurling projectiles at its entrance and smashing windows.

Anti-vaccination demonstrators also marched in Barcelona, following protests in other European capitals on Saturday against vaccine passports and other requirements that national governments have imposed as daily coronavirus infections and hospitalizations surge because of the omicron strain.

In Brussels, white-helmeted riot police riot repeatedly charged after protesters who ignored instructions to disperse. Police water cannon trucks fired powerful jets and tear gas filled the air in the Belgian capital.

A protest leader yelled over a loudspeaker, “Come on people! Don’t let them take away your rights!” [more]

Brussels Police Clash with Anti-Vaccination Protesters

“I’ll Kill You!”: COVID-19 anti-vaxxer attacks doctor in Bulgaria

By Polina Paunova, Damyana Veleva, and Tony Wesolowsky
19 January 2022

SOFIA (RFE) – Ivaylo Ivanov was thumbing through a folder of documents at his spartan doctor’s office in Novo Selo, a sleepy village in northern Bulgaria, when he got an unexpected visit on January 17.

With his camera on, one of the country’s most notorious anti-vaxxers, Ventsislav Angelov, stormed in, followed by a woman whose husband — with a history of heart issues — had died after apparently being vaccinated against COVID-19 by Ivanov.

“I’m going to kill you, I’m telling you! Hey, you bastard!” Angelov, who also goes by the nickname “Chicago,” can be heard yelling in the video broadcast live on his Facebook page.

Angelov, who has dabbled in right-wing politics and is a conspicuous crusader against coronavirus lockdown measures and vaccinations, was later arrested amid an outpouring of support for Ivanov, who was bloodied in the attack, as was Angelov.

The mayor of Novo Selo, Mareila Yordanova, told RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service that Ivanov was shaken by the incident and had given testimony to police. “Right now, several villages don’t have a doctor because of this case,” Yordanova said on January 18. […]

It’s one of two attacks on medical personnel reported in Bulgaria in recent days.

Relatives of a patient in a COVID-19 ward barged into a hospital in Ruse, a city in northeastern Bulgaria, claiming he did not have the virus and demanding he be moved, Bulgarian National TV reported on January 18.

In the wake of the two incidents, Health Minister Asena Serbezova has come to the defense of the country’s health workers, saying they deserve respect and not violence, in a Facebook post.

Much of the anti-vaccine skepticism in Bulgaria is fueled by disinformation dispensed across social media platforms by the likes of Angelov and other prominent individuals and politicians, most notably, but not limited to, members of the ultraright Revival party with its anti-NATO, anti-EU, and COVID-19 conspiracy-spinning agenda. [more]

‘I’ll Kill You!’: COVID Anti-Vaxxer Attacks Doctor In Bulgaria

Anti-vaccination protesters attack Guadeloupe hospital staff

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 5 January 2022 (AP) – Dozens of anti-vaccination protesters in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe attacked a hospital director and other medical staff following recent violent demonstrations against vaccines and COVID-19 restrictions, officials said Wednesday.

The attack occurred Tuesday outside the University Hospital Center as police tried to escort the director and other staff elsewhere for safety. The hospital said the director briefly lost consciousness and that the crowd ripped the clothes of the deputy general director and threw urine at both. The car of an executive assistant also was seriously damaged, officials said.

A health workers’ union that organized Tuesday’s demonstration and previous ones that turned violent to protest vaccine requirements and other measures told local media that members are seeking to recover lost wages after being suspended for refusing to become vaccinated as required by law.

Guadeloupe’s prefect, Alexandre Rochatte, condemned the attacks and said the government will prosecute those responsible.

“These deliberate abuses are unacceptable and intolerable,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal expressed support for the hospital director, saying Wednesday that what happened is “shameful. It’s revolting. It’s scandalous. And it’s inadmissible in the republic.”

The French government declared a “state of health emergency” for Guadeloupe and several other overseas territories Wednesday, citing a “considerable rise” in virus cases due to omicron’s fast spread and calling it a “health catastrophe putting the population’s health in danger.” The measure allows the government to issue decrees that curtail temporarily freedoms, including restrictions on movements, trade, entrepreneurship, and gatherings. It also enables the government to requisition necessary goods and services to fight against a health disaster.

Guadeloupe, an island of some 400,000 people, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in France. [more]

Anti-vaccination protesters attack Guadeloupe hospital staff

Anti-vaxxer who called in bomb threats to vaccine health centres jailed

By Antony Thrower
21 January 2022

(Mirror) – An anti-vaxxer who called in bogus bomb threats at vaccination centres and sparked a panic at a school has been jailed.

Rodney Peasley, 66, called in threats to a health organisation and a school in Truro, Cornwall, in November last year.

During a call to Kernow Health he indicated multiple devices would be detonated in service vehicles randomly in the next hour.

Peasley also made two calls to the Richard Lander School where Covid jabs were taking place, causing an evacuation as well as a lockdown in NHS venues.

In a three week campaign at the Mount Hawke medical centre in Truro he also slashed a marquee used for vaccinations and left a smoke pellet and graffiti, before spraying paint on CCTV cameras.

Prosecutor Nick Lewin said Peasley, of Scorrier, Cornwall, admitted four charges of criminal damage totalling £16,000 at the Mount Hawke centre and three charges of making bomb hoaxes. […]

When Robin Smith, defending, said Peasley “sincerely cares about the welfare and safety of young people,” the judge countered: “He threatened to bomb their school.”

Mr Justice Garnham said it was ‘astonishing’ that he had behaved in this way, adding Peasley had launched an ‘attack on the Covid vaccination plans’ at Mount Hawke and the school.

“It is clear to me this was part of a coordinated attack on important, vital work to provide Covid vaccinations to the people of Cornwall.”

He said bomb threats are ‘pernicious’ and affect ordinary people carrying out their daily lives. [more]

Anti-vaxxer who called in bomb threats to vaccine health centres jailed