Thousands of people (many of them are far-right supporters) protested against coronavirus restrictions in Vienna the day after the Austrian government announced the new lockdown measures and stated that vaccination will be mandatory next year.
On Saturday, people whistled, applauded, trumpets and drums poured into the Heroes’ Square in front of the Hofburg, the former imperial palace in the centre of Vienna. Many protesters waved the flags of Austria and other countries and held slogans with slogans such as “no vaccination,” “enough,” or “downfall the fascist dictatorship.”
Many Austrians are skeptical of vaccines, which is the encouragement of the third-largest far-right Liberal Party (FPÖ) in parliament.
Even after this week’s lockdown on unvaccinated people, the number of daily infections still set a record. The government said on Friday that it will put Austria back into lockdown from Monday and mandate vaccination from February 1st. vaccine.
FPÖ had already planned to demonstrate force in Vienna on Saturday, when Friday’s announcement ignited its base and prompted FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl to respond that “as of today, Austria is a dictatorship”.
Kickl announced earlier this week that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and had to be quarantined at home. He showed up via video. He condemned the government for taking what he called “totalitarian” measures, “that it should think and decide for us.”
“We do not approve of our government’s measures,” said a protester, a member of a group that wears tin foil on his head and a toilet brush in his hand. Like most protesters interviewed by the media, they declined to be named.
Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the west Europe Hospitals in the hardest-hit area warned that their intensive care unit had reached its capacity limit. In recent weeks, the average daily death toll has tripled.
