Why people have had just about enough of lockdowns

Covid-19 rules are becoming too costly to follow for some and too easy to ignore for others,  writes Lionel Laurent

Supporters of groups which are opposed to Covid-19 restrictions demonstrating in Dublin earlier this month. Photo: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

The history of epidemics is rife with examples of society rebelling against tough public-health edicts, such as the breach of plague quarantine in 18th-century Marseille or protests against face masks during the 1918 influenza pandemic. 

The grim consequence is a fresh wave of deadly infections.