Canada Coronavirus: Several thousand demonstrators in Madrid against the restrictions

Some demonstrators admit to doubting the very existence of the

virus © Ballesteros / EFE / SIPA Demonstration in Madrid against the restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19, on 23 January 2021.

virus Despite the third wave, which has killed more than 400 per day this week in Spain , anger has mounted in Madrid against the measures sanitary facilities. Thousands of people demonstrated in the center of the capital on Saturday to protest against government restrictions to contain the epidemic. They also denounced the "deception" of a virus which some protesters "does not exist".

Javier Camarena, the Mexican tenor who "likes to indulge"

© Gabriel BOUYS The Mexican tenor Javier Camarena at the Teatro Real in Madrid, January 13, 2021. Nothing predisposed him to become one of the tenors for the moment. At 44, Mexican Javier Camarena, addicted to video games when he is not on stage, has become one of the darlings of the New York Met. "I like to indulge myself through singing," the jovial and approachable singer told AFP with a smile before setting off on a tour of Spain at the Teatro Real in Madrid on Friday.

image captionProtests against coronavirus restrictions have been staged in Madrid this week. However, the Spanish government has argued that these restrictions are not sufficient, recommending an end to all unnecessary movement across the city, among other measures.

Thousands of people in Spain are protesting against the government's handling of the coronavirus Spain imposed some of the tightest restrictions in Europe on 14 March. It has eased restrictions in recent The party's leader, Santiago Abascal, led the protest from an open-topped bus in Madrid .

To the cries of “Freedom! And in an atmosphere hostile to the press, thousands of people marched from Atocha station to Plaza Colon. Many protesters did not wear masks, despite the legal obligation to wear them at all times on public roads.

“People have to take off their blindfolds, be less afraid and realize that it's just a bad flu, that you have to wait for it to pass and that's it,” said Milagros Solana , a 71-year-old retiree. "Mortality is lower than in other years," she added, downplaying the official tally, which has more than 55,000 deaths and 2.5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Spain since the start of the pandemic.

Next to her, a friend showed photos on her phone claiming that "hospitals are empty" in a country where more than a third of intensive care beds are occupied by patients patients with coronavirus, and where several centers had to evacuate other patients to make room for other patients with the virus. Many protesters also criticized the ongoing vaccination campaign as a method to end the epidemic.

In an attempt to stem the pandemic, the government has imposed a nighttime curfew and restrictions on mobility between regions. In Madrid, hotels must now close at 9 p.m.