Norway Celebrates End of Coronavirus Restrictions

The people of Norway celebrated the end of coronavirus restrictions on Sunday after an abrupt announcement from the prime minister.

According to the Associated Press (AP) the celebrations in some of Norway’s biggest cities that police were deployed not to punish people for wearing masks but to quell the “dozens of disturbances and violent clashes” as people piled into the streets, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Rowdy celebrations by hundreds of citizens across Norway started Saturday afternoon and lasted until the early hours of Sunday. Police said unrest was reported in several places, including in the southern city of Bergen and the central city of Trondheim, but the situation was the worst in Oslo.

Long lines were seen outside Oslo’s nightclubs, bars and restaurants late Saturday and police registered at least 50 fights and disturbances during the night. Neither vaccination status certificates nor negative test results are required to enter such venues in Norway.

Among other incidents, Norwegian media reported that police received an alert about a man carrying a machete on a bus in Oslo and people fainting while waiting to get into pubs in Trondheim.

The celebrations occurred after outgoing Prime Minister Erna Solberg abruptly announced on Friday that most coronavirus restrictions would be coming to a halt on Saturday, prompting scores of euphoric people to take to the streets.

“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.” – READ MORE