EU wants calm amid virus protests; rioters called “idiots”

By RAF CASERT and MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — European authorities are pleading for patience, calm and a willingness to still take a COVID-19 vaccine shot in the arm as infections — and demonstrations — spike upward again. Protest marches from Zagreb to Rome and Vienna to Brussels and Rotterdam, bringing tens of thousands on their feet, all had one message from a coronavirus-weary crowd — we’ve had enough!  Government leaders and European Union officials all made clear on Monday that a return to the past is still out of the question and that the violence at some of the marches was counterproductive.