Taxi Drivers in Italy Protest Lockdown Measures

NTD Newsroom
By NTD Newsroom
November 6, 2020NTD Evening News
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Taxi drivers in Italy went on a nationwide strike Friday over the government’s new lockdown measures. About 200 drivers gathered outside Rome’s Finance Ministry.

“We have continued to carry out our services for 24 hours a day, even during this pandemic, using our own money. We’ve had enough,” said Riccardo Caccione, USB trade union head. “We don’t have enough money to put gas in our cars. We’ve reached a point where we just can’t go on anymore.”

They’re asking the government for financial help to get through the new restrictions.

“We don’t have enough money to provide for our families. Now we have to pay for our insurance but we don’t have money, we have to ask for a loan. We are running out of our savings,” said Lupo, a taxi driver in the city.

Bars and restaurants in Italy now have to close at 6 p.m., and there is now a 10 p.m. curfew.

In the UK, hundreds of protesters gathered in central London chanting “freedom” and “no more lockdown.” Police arrested more than a hundred for violating pandemic-related rules and failing to disperse.

The latest lockdown measures say that households are not allowed to intermingle with others indoors or outdoors.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the current four-week lockdown should be enough to make a real impact.

“So these rules will expire and on the second of December we plan to move back to a tiered approach,” Johnson said. “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

In Manchester, students tore down barriers that were put up to segregate groups of people.

They were angry that the additional lockdown security measures had been erected with no prior notice.

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