20.05.2020 18:38
(Act. 20.05.2020 18:38)
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The FPÖ demonstrators clearly decided not to wear a face mask.
© APA / HELMUT FOHRINGER
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Between 500 and 1,500 demonstrators came together today in Vienna’s Heldenplatz to demonstrate against the corona measures. FPÖ party chairman Nepp rumbled about the “Corona madness” and Johann Gudenus was also present.
The FPÖ Vienna against the corona-Government policy demonstrated. According to the police, around 500 people responded to the call. Thanks to the baby elephants made of cardboard fixed on the floor, the visitors kept the distance, but hardly anyone wore nose and mouth protection or a “government burqa”, as party leader Dominik Nepp dubbed it.
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FPÖ spoke of 1,500 demonstrators
According to the police, around 500 people came to Heldenplatz – the FPÖ spoke of 1,500 people – to express their displeasure with the turquoise-green federal government and the much-quoted “new normality”. For example, the posters read: “Freedom for Austria” or “No more spooky masks.” In addition to liberal city politicians, the Vienna election campaign leader and FPÖ delegation leader in the EU Parliament, Harald Vilimsky, and general secretary Michael Schnedlitz also joined the audience.
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Demo at Vienna’s Heldenplatz
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© APA / HELMUT FOHRINGER
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In his 15-minute speech, Nepp made a sweeping attack against the turquoise-green federal government and its measures, which from the FPÖ’s point of view were excessive, to the point of laxity in the EU. Today’s protest rally is an “act of civil defense,” he made clear at the beginning. “Let’s stop the Corona madness together!” He asked his listeners.
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MNS protection in criticism
In Austria the “basic rules of our rule of law would be abused”: “The rule of law was trampled on.” The excessive measures taken by the turquoise-green federal government would have destroyed prosperity, the economy and livelihoods. Nepp also found it disgusting that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) had tried to split the generations: Small “grandchildren” had been demoted to “Todesengerl”, who killed the grandparents, he rumbled.
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Nepp cannot get used to mouth-nose protection either, although during the course of his speech he assured that he would not trivialize the corona virus. For him, the mask was a “government burqa” and the requirement of wearing it was a “masked puppet theater”. He referred to experts who found the wearing unnecessary.
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Counter demonstration at the outer castle gate
The speech of the liberal party chairman abounded with verbal accusations – shortly be a “gravedigger” and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) “completely knocked it out” with his Flex-Sager. The audience liked what they heard and chanted “Kurz muss muss weg” several times during the rally.
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Nepp also found no friendly words for the participants in a counter-demonstration, who expressed their displeasure with the FPÖ event at a distance, but still within sight and hearing of the Outer Castle Gate. “Personal care and hygiene are very important to us, there you voluntarily keep the minimum distance,” was one of the side blows against the “professional demonstrators”. According to the police, around 150 people took part in this counter event. A meadow and several rows of police officers provided a buffer between the two groups. There were no obvious riots.
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