A year-long global epidemic has hit Italy’s tourism industry hard, with many restaurants in financial crisis and on the verge of bankruptcy. tens of thousands of restaurants in Italy are in “civil disobedience” on the 15th, opening against the government’s blockade and curfew.
As many as 50,000 restaurants joined the action on social media called “I’m opening on the 15th” (#IoApro1501), according to U.S. news outlet breitbart. People are being asked to use the logo to support their favorite restaurants.
The website Humans Are Free reported on the 16th that more than 50,000 restaurants in Italy are planning to open their doors in a massive civil disobedience against the so-called “anti-Communist virus” blockade. These measures have severely damaged Italy’s restaurant industry, especially small family-owned businesses.
“Free Humanity reported that the campaign, delivered through social media with the hashtag “#Iopenon1501” (#IoApro1501), has become the largest civil disobedience action in the country since the Italian blockade.
Italian opposition lawmaker Vittorio Sgarbi, who voiced support for the campaign, called out the government for easing restrictions on businesses. He said the Italian government is already facing internal conflicts and crises, with the possibility of early elections. Some restaurant owners have taken to social media to explain why they want to open, arguing that only “civil disobedience” can defy the government’s blockade.
A waiter in Rome’s Piazza Navona lobbies for customers to enter the restaurant.
A waiter in Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy, lobbies for customers to enter the restaurant. (Photo/AP)
A video on Twitter shows a restaurant in Milan reopening with a full house of customers, and when police tried to shut it down, they were “outnumbered” and driven away by the customers.
The same footage was seen in Bologna, another major Italian city, showing customers high-fiving and cheering as police were chased away by customers, shouting “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
In addition to Italy, people in Poland, under the #otwieraMY movement, have been campaigning similarly for restaurants to fight the blockade.
Sebastian Pitoń, leader of the Polish organization Górlaskie Veto, said, “This insane blockade by the state is like trying to destroy Poland and Poles, destroy the middle class, small and medium-sized businesses, just like the insanity that kills hundreds of people every day.” Górlaskie Veto said their organization represents about 200 small and medium-sized businesses.
Piton said, “I hope we can get the whole of Central Europe off this crazy train that is heading for destruction.”
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In Poland, people are campaigning against the blockade with similar restaurants under the #otwieraMY movement. (Photo/#otwieraMY Twitter)
A massive protest movement against the blockade also took place in Orly on the 16th, with a march of about 10,000 people moving through the center of the Austrian capital Vienna to protest the blockade restrictions imposed by the government to stop the spread of the outbreak. Media at the march found that most people were not wearing masks and were even kissing and hugging each other.
Last month, the Dutch catering industry also reportedly planned to lift its own business blockade on Jan. 17, but eventually abandoned the action.
Similar protests against the blockade were reported to have begun in Mexico as early as the 12th of this month, when hundreds of restaurant owners gathered to protest the blockade and shouted, “I’m open. Protests are now spreading across Europe, with various protests in German-speaking Switzerland (#Wirmachenauf) and Poland (#OtwieraMY) dominating mainstream media coverage.
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