After a lockdown and compulsory vaccination were decided in Austria, around 35,000 people took to the streets.
Now the interior minister is warning of further radicalization.
In Vienna, after the announcement of a lockdown for everyone and a general vaccination requirement, several demonstrations took place on Saturday
(see original report)
.
According to the police, 35,000 people were on the street.
The mood was “heated” and security guards were pelted with bottles and fireworks
(see update from November 20, 5:50 pm)
.
Now the Austrian Interior Minister is warning of further radicalization and speaks of death threats against the Chancellor
(see update from November 21, 1:35 p.m.)
.
This news ticker is continuously updated.
Update from November 21, 1:35 p.m.:
One day after around 35,000 people demonstrated in downtown Vienna against lockdown and vaccination requirements, the Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer speaks out.
According to dpa, he worries about a further radicalization of the measures opponents.
Specifically, he named an incident that did not occur in Vienna yesterday, but in Linz.
There was an arson attack on a police car during the Corona demonstrations in the federal capital.
The two suspects then admitted that they wanted to kill the officers in the car.
There are also death threats against the Chancellor and the Minister of Health.
"This is a degree of radicalization that is in no way acceptable," said Nehammer on Sunday.
+
The Austrian Minister of the Interior, Karl Nehammer, worries about increasing radicalization.
© Herbert Pfarrhofer / APA / dpa
Even if the majority of the demonstrations in Vienna took place peacefully, well-known neo-Nazis and representatives of the new right-wing extremist scene had heated the mood, the Minister of the Interior continued.
For example, some demonstrators identified themselves as "unvaccinated" with the yellow star.
This is a trivialization of the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl thanked all the participants in the demo, as
reported by
Oe24
.
But thanks also go to the police officers, for they have preserved “the fundamental right to freedom of assembly”.
In his broadcast, the politician also spoke of up to 100,000 people who were on the street on Saturday.
Official estimates, however, amount to around 35,000 to 38,000 demonstrators.
"Heated mood": arrests at corona demos in Vienna - police attacked with fireworks
Update from November 20, 10:00 p.m.:
The streets of Vienna are slowly but surely calm.
Throughout the day around 35,000 people took to the streets against the lockdown that will apply from Monday and the introduction of mandatory vaccinations.
More than 1,300 police officers were mobilized to prevent possible excesses.
At least ten people were arrested.
The right-wing populist FPÖ had called for the largest protest event of many announced rallies.
There was a mask requirement, which, however, was not observed by many.
Demonstrators waved banners with the words “Corona dictatorship” or “No to compulsory vaccination”, as can be seen in many pictures and videos on social networks.
+
In Vienna, thousands took to the streets on Saturday to demonstrate against the announced corona measures such as lockdown and mandatory vaccination.
© IMAGO / photonews.at
The Interior Ministry had previously expressed fears that right-wing extremists and hooligans might mingle with the crowd. At the city limits, the police checked random samples of demonstrators arriving from other federal states and from abroad. Following warnings of attacks on critical infrastructure, security measures for hospitals, publishers, ministries and vaccination centers were tightened. In one case, an attempt was even made to snatch a firearm from the holster from a security guard, reports various press agencies.
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen appealed to the people on Friday to fight back against a division in society.
“There is a great danger that the trenches will now become even deeper.
But we cannot allow that, ”he said in a televised address.
The reasons for the riots are the announced lockdown for everyone and a general compulsory vaccination from the beginning of 2022. Hospitalization rates are also increasing in Austria, among other things because of vaccination breakthroughs.
However, Biontech boss Sahin has now made a few things clear.
(to / afp)
Corona demo in Vienna: bottles and fireworks are thrown at police officers
Update from November 20, 5:50 p.m.:
As the Vienna police announced on
, there were clashes between security forces and demonstrators during the rally.
“In the area of the outer castle gate, our colleagues were pelted with bottles and fireworks.
Our colleagues use pepper spray. "
In the area of the outer castle gate, our colleagues were pelted with bottles and fireworks.
Our colleagues use pepper spray.
# w2011
- POLICE VIENNA (@LPDWien) November 20, 2021
A total of around 1300 police officers are said to have been on duty in the Austrian capital.
As reported by the German press agency, at least ten people were arrested at the rallies.
The previously prescribed mask requirement was also not observed, it is said.
Corona demonstration in Vienna: "Mood has heated up"
Update from November 20, 3:35 p.m.:
Vienna's inner city will be dominated by several corona demos on Saturday.
"The mood is heated up," said a police spokesman to the dpa.
There have already been several arrests, and some participants would throw bottles at the officers.
According to official estimates, around 35,000 people are now on the street to demonstrate against the planned corona measures.
There were also video and audio recordings of the rallies, as the Vienna police wrote on Twitter.
Let the participants know about it too.
Image and sound recordings are made according to §54 / 4 SPG at the rally at #Heldenplatz.
The participants were informed of this via the loudspeaker announcement.
# w2011
- POLICE VIENNA (@LPDWien) November 20, 2021
Mass demonstration in Vienna: FPÖ holds a protest - Xaiver Naidoo also calls for participation
Update from November 20, 1:35 p.m.:
The various corona demos in Vienna are slowly starting to pick up speed. According to the
press,
more and more people are
gathering, especially around Heldenplatz, where the protest organized by the FPÖ takes place
. The banners read, for example, "Down with Corona Fascism" or see small children with barcodes on their foreheads. The group "Critical Police" had meanwhile also appeared in civilian clothes, which caused a great deal of applause. "It is enough! Policemen for Freedom Rights ”, was their slogan. Meanwhile, the Viennese police on duty control the mask requirement and earn loud boos and whistles.
Concerns about the events are growing louder.
According to the
press
, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien
warned its members about the “potential danger” that such events pose for them.
According to the Austrian right-wing extremism expert Bernhard Weidinger, the government and its announcements of lockdown and vaccination are to be blamed for the tense situation.
You had "the worst fears" of the Corona protest scene come true and "gave them the most effective mobilization boost imaginable," said Weidinger on Twitter.
That also led to the participation of "German oath celebrities".
In the run-up to this, the singer Xaiver Naidoo, among others, had apparently called on Telegram to take part in the demos in Vienna, according to the
press
.
In these circles 100,000 participants were prophesied, even before the government today, the day before, realized the worst fears of these scenes with Lockdown + Impflicht and thus gave them the most effective mobilization boost imaginable.
2/4
- Bernhard Weidinger (@bweidin) November 19, 2021
FPÖ calls for a crowd after the Corona Knallhart course: Up to 50,000 demonstrators expected in Vienna
Original report from November 20, 10.19 a.m .:
Vienna - One bang in Austria is currently followed by the next.
It was only on Friday that the federal government decided on a lockdown of several weeks for everyone and a general vaccination requirement from February 2022.
Several corona demos have therefore been announced for Saturday, among others organized by the FPÖ party, which is skeptical of measures.
According to the news portal
Oe24
, up to 50,000 people are expected in downtown Vienna.
Austria: Protests after tightening the Corona - 50,000 demonstrators expected in Vienna
The lockdown in Austria is expected to last until December 13th, and the mandatory vaccination, which, according to Foreign Minister Maas, will not apply in Germany, will follow around two months later. Reason enough for FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl to hold a “day of protest for freedom and human dignity,” as he writes on Facebook. The 53-year-old recently caused a stir when he recommended the horse deworming agent ivermectin for the treatment of Covid-19. He could not take part in the demo on Saturday himself because of his corona infection, but he called on all other Austrians to "resist peacefully" in order to "put the government down."
From 12 noon, the FPÖ will hold the demo between Heldenplatz and the Museumsquartier in Vienna.
According to
Oe24
,
ex-FPÖ boss Heinz Christian Strache should also
take part.
In addition, the anti-vaccination party MFG is holding a demonstration from 1 p.m. from the Westbahnhof to the center.
In total, the Viennese police expect up to 50,000 participants, around 11 protests have been registered.
Corona demos in Austria: Up to 50,000 participants expected - concern about parliamentary session
According to the news portal, the authorities are reacting accordingly to the expected crowd and are deployed with 1,300 police officers from the various federal states.
The police could not cancel the demo "because participation in a meeting is an exception according to the Corona regulation." However, the mask requirement is strictly controlled, an official told
Oe24
.
One pays particular attention to the parliament with great concern, in which the main committee of the National Council meets from 2 p.m. on the current pandemic situation.
Violence is already being incited in various Telegram groups.
“Set everything on fire!
It is enough, ”can be read, for example.
Mass demonstration against Corona measures in Austria: death threats against journalists
But not only the police are concerned about any escalation of the corona demos.
The Presseservice Wien, a network of freelance journalists, also reports on "threats up to serious violence and murder." These are directed against supposed political enemies, against the press itself and against itself as a network.
Tomorrow there will be a demonstration against the Corona measures in Vienna.
There are various calls for violence in advance.
Against supposed political enemies, against "the press" and also against us directly.
They range from threats to serious violence and murder.
# w2011 pic.twitter.com/uXNv1403PX
- Press Service Vienna (@PresseWien) November 19, 2021
The police are therefore preparing for the worst, according to
heute.at
.
In addition, the Ministry of the Interior also expects right-wing extremists at the various Corona demos.
So it is going to be rather uncomfortable in downtown Vienna today.
However, the corona demo in Rotterdam, where there are now several injured, has escalated.
(mef)
List of rubric lists: © Isabelle Ouvrard via www.imago-images.de
