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The demonstration was advertised on the Internet as a “ride.” According to the police, most of the participants did not wear masks and neither did they keep their distances.
An unannounced demonstration in Graz has consequences: the police are investigating several participants who are not yet known. The theme of the demonstration was measures against the coronavirus.
On Saturday, about a dozen men and women were reported at the site for ignoring distance rules. Police are now evaluating countless records and references to hold other participants accountable, as announced by police spokesman Markus Lamb. An attempt is also made to find the initiator (s) of the demonstration without prior notice.
According to Lamb, the police did not break up the protest: the mood was apparently charged. Officials at the scene established the identities of some of the roughly 1,000 participants who apparently opposed measures taken against the spread of the coronavirus. With police reinforcement, a fence, that is, crowd control in the main square, would have been possible. But since there were also children and older people who would have had to endure the control in cold temperatures, the police did not want to allow it to be reduced to an escalation, according to Lamb.
He said some announced and unannounced meetings of similar groups had been held for weeks. So far, only a few people have participated each time, so the demos were not noticed at all.
Start with a hundred participants, then around a thousand
This time, the participants had apparently agreed to meet at 2pm on the internet forums in St. Around a hundred people had initially gathered at the main train station and then moved down Annenstrasse to the main square. The number should have increased to about a thousand people. Around 4:00 pm, the congregation divided again. According to the police, most of the participants did not wear masks and neither did they keep their distances. According to the executive, the demonstration was directed “against all kinds of things”, against alleged vaccination requirements and against tests for the coronavirus. A banner without a trace on the Internet announcing the demonstration spoke of a “walk.” Also, the words: “Against the new measures! No tests, no vaccination requirements !! “
Mayor Siegfried Nagl (ÖVP) then demanded tougher police intervention. That brought to the scene his coalition partner Mario Eustacchio (FPÖ): “The criticism of the de-escalation actions of the police is absolutely incomprehensible. The Human Rights City of Graz is unworthy of the Human Rights City of Graz in response to the discontent expressed by the people at the increasingly absurd violations of fundamental rights and freedoms to demand police repression against the participants. “
(APA / red.)
