A stand rally on Schwarzenbergplatz, which was registered by the MFG party, which is critical of vaccinations and where several hundred people gathered, was particularly popular. The police are in the city with a large contingent on site.
A total of 38 meetings were reported, nine of which were prohibited and one rejected. The majority of the permitted events did not concern rallies against corona measures, but instead dealt with animal and climate protection.
Unlike in the past few weeks, the opponents of the measure hardly gathered at Heldenplatz in the early afternoon, where there was a large police presence. Rather, people usually moved in smaller groups with flags or banners from various parts of the city in the direction of Schwarzenbergplatz. At the Hochstrahlbrunnen there were speeches against “test and vaccination stress”, with participants sometimes commuting between the rally and the Christmas market on Karlsplatz.
The police had announced that they would not allow larger demonstrations in downtown Vienna until 6 p.m. on the weekend. The reason for this is the only shopping weekend in Advent – due to the closure during the lockdown, the shops are also allowed to open on Sundays. For this reason, the MFG event, for example, was only permitted as a stand rally. The police said that every notice of the meeting was “carefully” checked. In doing so, the fundamental right to freedom of assembly was weighed against any other fundamental rights, such as the public interest in the right to freedom of employment.
Source: Nachrichten
