Thousands rally against Covid curbs in Austria and Australia

Tens of thousands took to the streets in Austria and Australia Saturday as anger mounted over fresh Covid restrictions imposed against a resurgent pandemic, sparking overnight riots in a Dutch city and on a French island.

Europe is battling a fresh wave of infections and several countries have tightened curbs, with Austria on Friday announcing a nationwide partial lockdown — the most dramatic restrictions in Western Europe for months.

Other nations on the continent have resorted to less severe restrictions, often choosing to ban unvaccinated people from venues like restaurants and bars.

Some 35,000 came out to protest in Austria, while thousands marched in Croatia’s capital Zagreb and in several cities in the Netherlands.

In Sydney, some 10,000 marched and there were protests in other major Australian cities against vaccine mandates applied to certain occupations by state authorities.

“In Australia where a fanatical cult runs our health bureaucracies, they say it’s ok” to vaccinate children, right-wing politician Craig Kelly told the Sydney crowd to large cheers.

– ‘Corona dictatorship’ –

Violence marred protests on Friday in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, where police fired warning shots as protesters set fires. Two people were hospitalised with bullet wounds.

On Saturday, France dispatched dozens of elite forces to its Caribbean island of Guadeloupe after arson and looting overnight in the overseas territory, despite a newly imposed night curfew.

Thousands gathered Saturday in central Vienna near the Chancellery, responding to a call by the far-right FPO party.

They held up banners decrying “Corona dictatorship” and slamming the “division of society”.

“It’s not normal that the government deprives us of our rights,” said 42-year-old teacher Katarina Gierscher, who travelled for six hours to get to the rally.

From Monday, 8.9 million Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days.

Vaccination against Covid-19 in the Alpine nation will be mandatory from February 1 next year.

Although organisers cancelled a Dutch protest on Saturday, several thousand protesters still gathered in the capital Amsterdam, while around a thousand marched through the southern city of Breda.

“People want to live,” said one of the organisers, Joost Eras.

But “we come in peace”, he added, as around him many danced behind DJ floats, rejecting the government’s plans to exclude the unvaccinated from bars and restaurants.

– ‘All hell broke loose’ –

The group that earlier in the day cancelled the Amsterdam rally said on Facebook it had acted because “last night, all hell broke loose in Rotterdam”.

Dutch security minister Ferd Grapperhaus said: “The riots and extreme violence against police, riot police and firefighters last night in Rotterdam are horrifying.”

In Iran, the health ministry said Saturday more than half of the population had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, as infection and death rates in the country have started to drop.

Winter sports have again been hit by the pandemic. Germany has ordered next month’s Ski Jumping World Cup in Klingenthal to be held behind closed doors.

But it wasn’t all bad.

In France, jubilant skiers hit the slopes as resorts fully opened their doors for the first time in almost two years.

“We’re delighted to be able to get the lifts up and running again and to be able to do our job 100 percent,” rescue worker Emmanuel Laissus told AFP in the Val Thorens resort in the southeast.

burs-ah/jj