Thousands of people took to the streets this Saturday in Vienna, the capital of Austria, to protest against the new sanitary measures imposed to stop the advance of the coronavirus in the country, including confinement at the national level. The police estimate that some 7,000 people have participated in the demonstration called in the Austrian city, where they have also criticized the obligation to vaccinate against COVID-19, a measure that will take effect in February 2022.
Those present have demanded greater “freedom”, although many of them have not attended the protest with a mask, which is a violation of the restrictions to call demonstrations. The nearly 1,300 agents deployed to control the march have kept a low profile for the time being. “There have been no incidents worth mentioning,” said a police spokesman, who described the situation as “dynamic”, although the authorities hope that more people will join in the afternoon.
The marches – called largely by the far-right formation Freedom Party – are expected to spread to other areas of the country during the day. Its leader, Herbert Kickl, who is currently sick with covid-19, sees the measures as something “dictatorial”.
Confinement across the country
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The confinement will take effect on Monday throughout the country, although it will end for those who are vaccinated or have passed the disease on December 13. For the chancellor of the country, the lockdown decision has come “late”, but it was the correct one since the situation “just couldn’t go on like this.”
This Saturday the country has registered 15,297 infections, a little below the maximum of 15,809 registered the day before, but the weekly incidence already exceeds 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Another 42 people have died in the last 24 hours and there are currently 2,881 people in hospital treatment for coronavirus, 524 of them in intensive care units, according to the latest balance of the Ministry of Health. The total number of infections in the country since the beginning of the pandemic is around 1,030,000 and the deceased already close to 12,000 (11,993 deaths)
Reference-www.elperiodico.com