The spirit of rebelliousness against tyranny isn’t just alive in America. In Italy, over 50,000 restaurants opened up in defiance of Italy’s draconian lockdown measures with patrons revolting against police who come to shut these restaurants down.
According to “Off-Guardian,” Italian restaurant owners coordinated an online day of defiance called “#IoOpro” or “I am opening.” The day, which occurred on the 15th of January, was the largest country-wide act of civil disobedience since the lockdowns began.
Politicians were even in on the rebellion with Italian opposition MP Vittorio Sgarbi saying to restauranteurs in an interview to “open up, and don’t worry, in the end, we will make them eat their fines.”
On the day #IoOpro occurred, police arrived at restaurants to shut them down but found themselves confronted by patrons who demanded they leave and reminded them who pays their salaries. Others shouted “freedom” as they escorted police out of the building.
ITALY: #IoApro restaurant is open, police arrives. Customers refuse to leave & shout in unison “Get out! Get out! Get out! ..we pay your wages from our taxes, you work for us.. Get out! Get out! Get out!” #IOpen pic.twitter.com/Wqa0DYz4ls
— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) January 16, 2021
VARESE, ITALY: #IoApro restaurant: “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” #IOpen pic.twitter.com/oJTgLYb0mN
— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) January 16, 2021
BOLOGNA, ITALY: Customers escort police out of the #IoApro restaurant under the cries of “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” pic.twitter.com/XDxLctTGYR
— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) January 16, 2021
It would appear other countries are taking part in the rebellion as well.
Switzerland and Poland have their own reopen movements going called the #Wirmachenauf and #OtwieraMY respectively.
Over 500 restaurants in Mexico coordinated their own defiant reopening as well.
Mexico 🇲🇽 Epic scenes, Over 500 restaurants have joined forces, agreeing to open up together, defying LOCKDOWN. Forced closed since Dec 18, they’ve stated it’s either ‘WE OPEN UP OR WE DIE’. Long Live the People 💥👊 pic.twitter.com/PeSQpaGtqb
— ✖️TIME ✖️2✖️RISE✖️ (@itstime2rise) January 12, 2021
While many would see these movements as dangerous, it should be known that these illegal reopenings were inevitable. Many restaurant owners were watching as their livelihoods wasted away into nothing, staff weren’t receiving paychecks, and were unable to pay their bills.
Moreover, average citizens were being driven crazy from being cooped up. Their mental health was shaking and their inability to interact with other people was being unnaturally restricted.
All of this amounted to what was going to always be an explosion of defiance and rejection of draconian measures of keeping people “safe.”
It’s unlikely that these reopenings will be the last we see and as more restaurants open and people begin to enjoy life again, movements in other countries will begin following the example of the Italians.