BRUSSELS: Police fired water cannons and tear gas at stone-pelting protesters on Sunday after thousands of protesters marched through Brussels against COVID-19 rules.
Officials estimate that around 50,000 people paraded through the Belgian capital - the largest of protests in the city in previous months. Clashes broke out near the EU headquarters as police used water cannons and tear gas to push back protesters with stone pelting and firecrackers.
News outlet RTL reported that masked demonstrators had broken into the glass entrance of the EU's foreign policy agency's office. The protests come as infections caused by the Omicron wave reach record highs across Europe.
Protesters hold signs condemning Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Crew and the COVID safe pass required for entry into several places. Organizers including the World Wide Demonstration for Freedom and the European United for Freedom called on people from other EU states to come.
Flags of Poland, the Netherlands, France and Romania could be seen in the crowd. "What has been happening since 2020 has allowed people to wake up to corruption," said Francesca Fanara, who travels from Lille in northern France.
"I've come to march together." "This is a health dictatorship," said Portugal's Adolfo Barbosa. "It makes my heart happy to see these people here."
The European Union's health agency said on Friday that Omicron has now become the dominant version circulating in the bloc and some neighboring countries. Belgium has seen daily infections exceed 60,000 over the past week in what officials have called a "tsunami".
But the milder version and the higher rate of vaccination – in which people are getting a third booster jab – mean that the health system has not come under the same strain as the earlier waves. De Crew announced on Friday that restaurants and bars may extend their opening hours - although nightclubs are still closed.
Neighboring France has said it will begin a gradual lifting of COVID restrictions from February 2, when officials said there were "encouraging signs" that the wave of infections due to the Omicron variant was easing.
Meanwhile, Russia reported a new daily high of Covid-19 cases on Sunday, breaking its national record for the third day running as infections of the highly contagious Omicron variant continued to rise.
The European country worst hit by the pandemic reported 63,205 cases in 24 hours, breaking the previous records of 57,212 on Saturday and 49,513 on Friday, government data showed.
Moscow, the epicenter of Russia's outbreak, posted a new record for the fourth day in a row with 17,528 infections. President Vladimir Putin warned earlier this month that Russia had two weeks to prepare for a surge in Omicron cases, and called for more testing and vaccination.
Despite four vaccines being widely available for months, including domestically produced Sputnik V, Russians remain reluctant to jab with less than half the population fully vaccinated.
The makers of Sputnik V claimed on Thursday that their vaccine provided stronger protection against Omicron, while Putin has previously claimed it is "more effective" than Western-developed jabs. Russian government figures show 326,112 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. But those figures are refuted by the state statistics agency Rosstat, which counts Covid deaths under a broad definition and says the death toll is almost double the official figure.
Globally, Russia has the fourth-highest number of virus-related deaths, according to an AFP tally. Meanwhile, Hong Kong authorities said on Sunday that one in 77 hamsters handed over to a covid by pet owners has tested positive, as one in thousands tested positive. The city's residents are under lockdown to deal with an outbreak.
More than 2,000 hamsters have been killed after some imported from the Netherlands tested positive by a local pet shop, raising fears of animal-to-human transmission. The World Health Organization has said the risk of transmission from animals "remains low", but is a possibility.
It comes as Hong Kong battles an Omicron cluster that has infected more than 170 people in a single public housing property in recent days. Pet owners who bought hamsters after December 22 were urged last Tuesday to surrender their pets to trial and kill.
Many small animals found in pet stores along with imported hamsters were confiscated by the authorities, including guinea pigs and rabbits. But on Sunday officials said only one of the 77 hamsters who surrendered was positive for the virus. Hong Kong on Sunday recorded its highest number of new Covid cases in 18 months at 140, putting under pressure the city's zero-tolerance strategy.