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The protesters had blocked the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Operngasse on Thursday night and chained themselves together in a honeycomb pattern. Some of the weapons were hidden in iron tubes, which made it difficult for the executive to terminate the operation. 20 protesters were arrested and their identities could not be determined.
The activists had endured the night in very cool weather and partially blocked the Friedrichstrasse at Karlsplatz in the morning. Extinction Rebellion asks that climate councils be advised by independent experts. On Friday morning it was the main objective of the protesters to contact Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ). However, that did not work.
According to police spokesman Markus Dittrich, there was initially no reason to break up the meeting. “The right of assembly takes precedence over an administrative offense that constitutes an unregistered assembly,” explained Dittrich. Public transportation was allowed to pass the blockade. There is currently no undue burden for individual traffic, Dittrich said in the morning.
Traffic jams in the city center
A short time later, however, there were traffic jams. Due to the action, Operngasse from the Ring to Getreidemarkt and Friedrichstrasse from Operngasse were closed. So there were problems at Karlsplatz, Lothringerstraße, Kärntner Ring, Kärntner Straße, Opernring and Schubertring and Wiedner Hauptstraße. The ÖAMTC recommended avoiding large areas.
Shortly after 9:00 am, the police decided to break up the meeting and made announcements to the activists. The evacuation started shortly before 10 am As for the reasons, Dittrich said that traffic and the freedom of movement of citizens had been unreasonably impaired. The police established the identity of the rally participants. If this was not possible, she was given provisional arrest. That affected 20 activists. The executive explained that the operation went smoothly. Three protesters were reported under the Assemblies Act.
XR Austria had announced a week of action in Vienna this week to protest against the Austrian government’s climate policy and fight for the establishment of climate citizens’ councils. The activists had set up a tent camp at Michaelerplatz on Sunday, which was cleared on Monday. By Tuesday night, the belt lanes were blocked.
