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Video shows man calmly playing piano as protests erupt around him

‘This is fine.’

Photo of Samantha Shaps

Samantha Shaps

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A video that went viral on Reddit on Sunday shows a man playing the piano on a sidewalk in Barcelona, Spain, as gunshots, fires, and protests erupt around him in response to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s lockdown restrictions.

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Sánchez ordered a nationwide curfew Oct. 25 in an effort to combat rising COVID-19 cases in Spain, which became the first European country to exceed 1 million cases, according to Al Jazeera.

In the video, the piano player, whose identity remains unknown, plays “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles as shouts, sirens, explosions, gunshots, and the sound of breaking glass fill the city.

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At one point in the video, an individual runs near the piano player, throws something at a police car, and runs away. A group of citizens surround the player, recording and listening as others run in and out of the frame.

By Monday, the video had accumulated over 7,500 likes and 2,600 retweets on Twitter.

One person compared the video to the orchestra scene in The Titanic in which musicians continue to play their instruments as the massive ship sinks deeper into the ocean. Meanwhile, several others said the video is “very 2020.”

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