Thousands of people demonstrated against the government’s corona measures on Saturday in Vienna. According to the police, there were several arrests for violating corona requirements. The right-wing populist FPÖ held rallies and called for the resignation of the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP). There was also a rally in Switzerland.
On their protest march through the Austrian capital, the demonstrators disregarded the distance rules, many did not wear protective masks. The corona requirements in Austria were relaxed in February, schools, shops and museums have reopened.
The demonstrators also called for restaurants and cafes to be reopened and protested against the mandatory corona tests for schoolchildren as a prerequisite for participation in face-to-face classes.
FPÖ General Secretary accused Kurz of ruining the country “with his henchmen”. The prominent FPÖ politician Herbert Kickl, who was Interior Minister in the former Kurz cabinet, accused the government of acting on the verge of madness in speeches on Heldenplatz and later in the Prater. Among other things, he spoke of “Corona steel helmets in government offices” and “dirty guys” in the ministries, as reported by the Austrian news agency APA.
The Kurz government was operating in a “power frenzy” and the media were spreading propaganda, said Kickl, while the demonstrators were chanting “lying press” and calling for the conservative chancellor to resign on “Kurz must go” posters.
Austrian media reported that the convicted neo-Nazi Gottfried Küssel was seen among the demonstrators. At the Museum of Applied Arts, demonstrators unrolled a poster that read “We are the people”.
The Viennese government has announced that the corona requirements will be further relaxed in the coming weeks, depending on the number of infections. According to Health Minister Rudolf Anschober, the more contagious British variant of the virus is now predominant in Austria. In view of the rampant virus variants, Germany has introduced border controls to the Austrian state of Tyrol.
In Switzerland, too, thousands of people took to the streets against the Corona requirements on Saturday. As the news agency SDA reported, more than 4,000 demonstrators marched through the city of Chur. Some held up protest posters with slogans such as “Stop dictatorship” or “Stay away from our children”.
The Chur city police had approved the demonstration, initiated by the “Silent Protest” association, subject to certain conditions. The politician Ruedi Weber from the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) made an appearance during the rally.
ju /
–
