Norway witnesses mass brawls as people celebrate end of COVID restrictions

After the Norwegian government abruptly announced to lift all the restrictions related to COVID-19, a large number of people on Saturday flocked to the streets, bars, restaurants and nightclubs to celebrate the uninterrupted movement in the country after such a long gap. The surprising decision announced by outgoing Prime Minister Erna Solberg to lift the restrictions that were invoked since the pandemic hit the country, caused chaotic scenes in the capital, Oslo, and elsewhere in the country. The police were seen struggling to deal with the people as several cases of violence were reported from bars and nightclubs. "It has been 561 days since we introduced the toughest measures in Norway in peacetime," Solberg said on Friday at a news conference. "Now the time has come to return to a normal daily life." According to police, noisy and disorderly celebrations started on Saturday afternoon after the Prime Minister announcement and lasted until the early hours of Sunday. They said the reports of violence were reported across the southern city since the announcement but the situation in the national capital deteriorated. Earlier, COVID vaccination status certificates or negative test results were required to enter public places in Norway. However, with the latest announcement, people are free to move anywhere in the country without any health documents. According to police, they registered at least 50 cases of fights and disturbances related to Oslo’s nightclubs, bars and restaurants. "That’s exactly what I predicted would happen,” angry nightclub manager Johan Hoeeg Haanes in Oslo told Norwegian newspaper VG. "It was a life-threatening situation in the city because they (government) didn’t give us at least a few days advance notice. This was a dangerous situation, as police said all places were packed." Nearly 70% of Norway population inoculated both COVID vaccine shots Apart from celebration related cases, police also received an alert about a man carrying a machete on a bus in Oslo. Some people also reported cases of fainting while waiting to get into pubs in Trondheim. "There was a significantly greater workload (Saturday) than during the summer. There were a lot of people out already in the afternoon and it continued during the night," Oslo police spokesman Rune Hekkelstrand told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. It is worth noting that the Scandinavian country has become the second country in the Nordic region to lift coronavirus restrictions. Earlier, Denmark had lifted COVID restrictions on 10 September, this year. According to the Norway Health Department, more than 76% of the population received one vaccine dose, and nearly 70% have had both shots. (With inputs from AP) (Image: AP)

Advertisement

Norway witnesses mass brawls as people celebrate end of COVID restrictions

After the Norway government abruptly announced to lift all the restrictions related to COVID-19, people flocked to the streets, bars to celebrate.

Advertisement