They also claim that although they personally knew people who had died from the virus, they believe their deaths were caused by the complications related to the vaccine rather than the virus.
At the most extreme, people believe that the virus is a biological weapon created by the US to depopulate the planet, or a tool to control the masses, while vaccinations are laced with substances that can make you infertile, or even kill you.
“Vaccines contain a layer of graphene that carries tiny knives that cut your veins from the inside,” said protester Ioana Banda Claudia, from the eastern city of Timisoara.
Mr Simion’s AUR, the fourth largest party in Romania despite only being founded in 2019, have played to the population’s cynicism using well-worn rhetoric about the threat restrictions pose to personal freedom, while falling short of opposing vaccines.
Others, like influential MP Diana Sosoaca, a lawyer and a former AUR member who is known for flamboyant stunts such as wearing a muzzle to parliament to protest face masks, have been more publicly critical.
In September, Ms Sosoaca was investigated by police after she blocked vehicles bringing people to be vaccinated in a town in the country’s north.
Speaking from his parliamentary office a week before the protest, Mr Simion – who is unvaccinated – said that his party are “pro choice”, echoing the language of anti-abortion campaigners.
He said they stand against the imposition of what they see as mandatory vaccination in the form of the green pass, a health certificate that is currently needed to enter indoor public spaces such as bars and restaurants.
The shadow of Communism remained at the centre of his party’s beliefs, he said.
“We lived in a Communist regime where it was normal and everybody knew that the state did not want you to be well. We think this about our current government – that they don’t want us to be healthy or in good shape,” he said. “This is why a majority of the Romanian population do not want to get vaccinated.”
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