Unvaccinated youth in Europe rally against increasing restrictions as protests continue

A growing movement encouraging unvaccinated youths to gather at venues has attracted strong criticism amid the Omicron wave.

Mass-Voll President Nicolas Rimoldi, who is an unvaccinated student and part-time supermarket worker, says he has never once participated in a protest before the pandemic.

A growing youth movement opposing Europe’s push for mandatory vaccination laws is pushing to set up an underground society for “alienated” portions of the community.

Tens of thousands of protesters continue to march across the continent against increasingly harsh laws against unvaccinated residents.

Leaders like France’s Emmanuel Macron have declared it their mission to “piss off” those without the jab, closing doors on more services for the minority group.

Some others, like Swiss anti-mandate Group Mass-Voll, have taken matters into their own hands, moving to set up a network of services for Europeans who do not carry a proof of vaccination card.

The protest group says it is fighting for humanity’s “indefeasible rights of liberty”.

Hundreds of thousands of Covid protestors have taken to the streets across Europe as governments clamp down on restrictions. Picture: Sanne Derks/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

“We demand an immediate and unconditional restoration of our God-given and indefeasible rights of liberty. Both for us young people, but also for all other human beings. We demand an immediate, unconditional end to all corona-related coercive measures in Switzerland,” the group’s website reads.

President Nicolas Rimoldi, who is an unvaccinated student and part-time supermarket worker, says he had never once participated in a protest before the pandemic.

But after seeing his native Switzerland went through repeated lockdowns, a vaccination rollout and then another wave of cases, Mr Rimoldi couldn’t sit on his hands any longer.

The group opposes Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who came out swinging in December publicly declaring unvaccinated locals “a tiny minority of unhinged extremists”, and vowed to refuse to let the group “impose its will on our entire society”.

Mass-Voll claims that those who have remained sceptical on the efficacy of the widely-mandated jabs have been outcast and treated as “less valuable humans”.

Mr Rimoldi says under new laws, he is unable to complete his university degree, earn a wage, enter a gym or legally sit down at a restaurant.

“People without a certificate like me, we’re not a part of society anymore,” he said via CNN. “We’re excluded. We’re like less valuable humans.

“We live in a two-class society now. It’s horrible. It’s a nightmare.”

Mass-Voll President Nicolas Rimoldi, who is an unvaccinated student and part-time supermarket worker, says he has never once participated in a protest before the pandemic.

Mr Rimoldi was unapologetic about his flouting of the rules with other unvaccinated people, boasting about hosting dinners and social events with as many as 50 people.

“Yes, it’s not legal, but in our point of view the certificate is illegal,” Mr Rimoldi said, likening their behaviour to those in prohibition-era USA.

He says he has built a small network of business owners who are sympathetic to their cause, allowing groups of unvaccinated people attend cinemas, restaurants and other venues currently barred from allowing unvaccinated customers attend. Groups are advised against bringing their phones to avoid others getting wind of their activities.

The phone ban came after a tweet from Mr Rimoldi claiming he had dined at a restaurant “without a Covid certificate” attracted attention from the Swiss press and the public prosecutor’s office.

In Switzerland, locals who can prove they have recovered from Covid in the previous year are officially considered to be as equally protected as fully-vaccinated residents.

Mr Rimoldi said some of Mass-Voll’s support comes from fully-vaccinated people fed up with their government after being informed there would be an end to restrictions after getting two doses of the current vaccines.Introductions of a third and now fourth shot in some parts of Europe have only increased anti-government sentiment, protestors claim.

“At our demonstrations there’s many people who are fully vaccinated,” he claimed. “They say, ‘Hey, the government lied to us’.”

When asked whether he thought the shots were a net-positive to society, Mr Rimoldi said he’d rather not discuss the vaccine specifically and refuses to take it purely as a matter of principle.

Mass-Voll has built a large following of youths opposing Europe's coronavirus restrictions.

While many anti-vaccine groups like Mass-Voll believe they are a voice for countless people too hesitant to speak up, their movement has been slammed as the exception to the rule in Europe.

Professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Martin McKee claimed “the vast majority of people everywhere” were in favour of governmental provisions taken against Covid-19.

“These people are the exceptions,” he said. “But what can you do? You don’t really want to make martyrs of these people - if they choose to (congregate), they’re putting themselves and others at risk.”

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is among those in favour of Europe-wide vaccine mandates, warning that “without mandatory vaccination I do not see us managing further waves in the long term.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has supported the efficacy of vaccinations since the beginning of the rollout, estimating a whopping 470,000 Europeans above the age of 60 were saved by the fast-tracked immunisations offered by international pharmacutical giants like Pfizer and Moderna.

However, the WHO has also cautioned against governments imposing vaccine mandates, declaring forced inoculations “an absolute last resort” and “only applicable when all other feasible options to improve vaccine uptake have been exhausted”.

At the time of writing, Switzerland has recorded 841,573 cases and 11,093 deaths.

Trotz den kalten Temperaturen gingen am Samstag tausende Menschen in Zürich auf die Strasse. Von Demonstration zu Demonstration entdecken wir immer mehr junge Gesichter. Wir sind viele und es werden mehr!✊🏻💜

Zusammen erkämpfen wir uns die Freiheit zurück! ✊🏻💜 #Zürich0801pic.twitter.com/M6I3n24QJD

— MASS-VOLL💜 (@mass_voll) January 10, 2022