Yesterday, 1,400 demonstrators again protested against the Corona measures in Linz. The rally procession ran from downtown to the Herz-Jesu-Kirche. There were ugly scenes in front of the after-school care center of the Bruckner School on Wiener Strasse. According to a broadcast from the after-school care center management, which two concerned mothers forwarded to the OÖ Nachrichten, participants are said to have frightened children with the slogans and filmed children and parents. A limit was crossed, LH Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) and Mayor Klaus Luger (SPÖ) agreed. Luger wants protection zones around schools and childcare facilities.
Video: “He was afraid that the demonstrators would come in,” reports a concerned mother in an interview with OÖN-TV.
“curtains up”
According to the day care management, some children are said to have stepped on the window during the demo. The fact that they wore masks aroused the interest of the demonstrators. Several shouts were heard from the crowd. The educators noticed that demonstrators were making videos of the children and drew the curtains. Then the call “Curtains up” is said to have sounded on the street. Since the end of the demonstration, the Herz-Jesu-Kirche, is nearby, the demonstrators stopped in front of the after-school care center.
“My son was terrified”
Photos are said to have been taken of children and waiting parents. “In the period from 3:25 p.m. to 4 p.m. the children and the teachers were terrorized,” says the message from the after-school care center to the parents. “Our teachers took care of the crying children of all ages throughout the house”. The mother of a seven-year-old Hort child was outraged in an interview with the OÖ Nachrichten: “My son didn’t know what was going on there. He was incredibly scared. What’s the point?”
At the State Police Department Oberösterreich it was said that the demo train came to a standstill in the area of the after-school care center because it turned around there in order to move back towards the city center. However, no incidents were noticed in connection with the after-school care center. It is also not correct that the building had to be protected. However – like the rest of the time of the demo – again and again “Mask away!” been chanted.
finished school earlier
The director of the BRG Fadingerstraße, Sylvia Bäck, now knows about frightened students. When thousands of anti-vaccination opponents marched through the city center around noon before Christmas, children on their way to a public transport stop got caught in the middle of the rally, she reported to the APA. A boy from the lower grades returned to school crying.
In order to enable all her students to get home safely, the headmistress decided that classes would end at 11 a.m. on the day of the demo. The teachers informed the parents by telephone and received broad approval for the campaign. In this way, everyone was able to leave the school building in the city center undisturbed and get home without a time delay – for example because the tram was interrupted because of the demo train.
Luger demands protection zones
Due to the current events, Luger caused “the immediate examination to declare schools, childcare, senior citizens’ and health facilities as protection zones” on Thursday. His ÖVP deputy Bernhard Baier also supports this. But Luger also sees the need for the police to “immediately stop” such actions.
The governor found clear words. It was “intolerable when individual radical demonstrators line up in front of a day care center and frighten children with their slogans and shouting – even if only unconsciously. Leave our children alone,” Stelzer demands. Even if freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate are “high goods” in a democracy that need to be protected, a way must be found “so that a loud minority does not constantly interfere with the life of the silent majority”.
His deputy Christine Haberlander, who is responsible for childcare and education, spoke to State Police Director Andreas Pilsl on Thursday. She emphasized that child education and care facilities “must be particularly sensitive” and “keep a close eye on disruptions”. She also appealed to the federal government to extend the legal regulations for protection zones to those institutions.
“Child tears are unacceptable”
“Extremely worried and frightened” is also the Upper Austrian child protection provincial councilor Birgit Gerstorfer (SPÖ). The right to freedom of expression and assembly should not lead to a siege-like situation around a day care center in which six to ten-year-old children are staying. It should be checked whether protection zones are possible. “What is absolutely not possible is when adults vent their frustration and aggression about the measures taken against children, as happened yesterday. Children’s tears are unacceptable,” said Gerstorfer, who called for consequences for the ringleaders.
“Far beyond the deep red line”
The Green regional spokesman Stefan Kaineder sees “a dark deep red, bold line far exceeded. What happened here is a paragon of irresponsibility and a scenery that we are here Oberösterreich don’t want to have. Firstly, this must never happen again and secondly, it cannot remain without consequences.” He expects “clear words” and a “clear call for moderation” from the FPÖ and MFG. “Otherwise all dams threaten to break.” He also called for “more Sensitivity in Approving Demo Routes”.
The Neos also condemned the anti-vaccination behavior towards young children. “We present ourselves to them, to their parents and to everyone who wants to promote the community. Anyone who causes fear and panic in children in the course of exercising the right to demonstrate – one of the most important democratic rights – is clearly outside the peaceful discourse,” so the pink club chairman Felix Eypeltauer.
Also the children’s friends Oberösterreich reacted “dismayed and stunned”: Now the time had come for demonstrators to “instrumentalise small children and massively upset them through aggressive behavior”.
Numerous ads
After the demo on Wednesday, 21 ads were reported for non-compliance with the mask requirement, two each for violations of the ban on masking, disorder and decency, and one ad under the Narcotics Act. There were no arrests. 20 people took part in another demo at the Linzer Bindermichl, which was directed against the intervention of the police. It placed nine ads for violating the mask requirement and one for disguise.
Source: Nachrichten
