10,000 demonstrators and ten arrests at Corona demos

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Around 10,000 demonstrators took part in the actually prohibited Corona demonstrations in downtown Vienna on Sunday. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Vienna’s police chief Gerhard Pürstl have drawn a first balance in the evening. According to the report, ten people were arrested, four police officers were injured and around 800 charges were filed for violations of Covid 19 regulations.

A total of two officers fell, two were injured by “extraneous force.” “This operation was anything but a walk in the park for the police officers,” Nehammer said. It wasn’t until about 7:30 p.m. that the operation was over. Overall, he said, a “devastating picture emerged.” The police officers had done a good job, Nehammer emphasized.

Escalations and riots were avoided, Pürstl summed up. In the “challenging operation” the police have kept the balance. The police had not underestimated the operation, they had known “if many demonstrators come it will be difficult,” said the police chief, who had led the operation himself. It was clear that the demonstrators had to “give way and offer space”. After all, there were also mothers with children in strollers among the participants. At least at the end, the executive intervened “very massively,” said Pürstl.

Nehammer also emphasized that the operation had “developed its own dynamic,” with participants also attempting to storm the parliamentary ramp and occupy the parliament, which is currently being renovated, among other things. “It was always necessary to make new tactical decisions,” the interior minister said. Today’s police operation will also be evaluated again so that it can be set up even more efficiently, Nehammer announced.

Videos showing assaults on journalists circulated on Twitter in the evening. The police had no knowledge of this yet, it was said late in the evening. However, Nehammer said that they would follow up on every indication of where violent actions against the press were said to have taken place. He again blamed his predecessor Herbert Kickl and his party FPÖ for today’s events. Kickl had poured oil on the fire, he said.

The demonstration with 10,000 participants moved for hours in several trains through the city. Initially, a few hundred people had gathered quite peacefully – albeit largely in disregard of the mask and distance requirement. With increasing influx, the mood became more aggressive, the “walkers” stormed the ring road, which was initially not closed to cars.

The police asked to leave in small groups, closed off the routes and encircled the demo again and again. However, several demo platoons formed and marched in different directions. In total, more than 1,000 forces were deployed. They repeatedly had to listen to derisive and aggressive comments, and there were also some small riots.