Around 6,000 participants at the MFG demo in Linz, arson attack on town hall «kleinezeitung.at
As on the day before in Vienna, far more participants came to the demonstration against the corona measures in Linz on Sunday. While the event was peaceful, a (failed) arson attack on Linz City Hall is currently occupying the police.
6:24 p.m., November 21, 2021
Thousands of people are one on Sunday Rally against the government’s corona measures in downtown Linz came. The three members of the state parliament impcritical party MFG had invited to the rally at 2 p.m. in front of the country house. Because of the never-ending influx, the beginning was postponed by half an hour. Instead of the registered 600 people, almost ten times as many came, the police confirmed estimates.
However, the vast majority of participants of all ages who came downtown when the sun was shining did not wear masks. Many demonstrators waved red-white-red flags, a real sea of flags accompanied the masses. Statements such as: “The syringe is the greatest crime against humanity”, “No to compulsory vaccination”, “Stay away from our children” and “Civil rights – freedom despite Corona” could be read on the banners they had brought with them. “The country house, the criminal house,” called out one participant to another, “that’s where Upper Austria’s first criminal sits,” he called the governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP). Again and again those waiting in front of the mobile speaker’s platform chanted “Resistance”.
“Thank you for all getting up,” welcomed the member of the state parliament Joachim Aigner the amount. The “time on the couch” is now over. He blamed the “savings policy” of the last few years for the tense situation in Upper Austria’s hospitals. According to the police, there were no incidents during the rally and it was peaceful. The MFG had emphasized, “we do not want any rioters” and called for “criminal matters” to be reported.
After the complete end, however, imagined spontaneous demonstration. The people marched towards the Volksgarten, then turned back and walked towards the main square. The situation was tense, said a police spokesman around 4:45 p.m. to the APA. There have been no arrests so far.
Protest march in Salzburg
As on many Sundays since the beginning of the corona pandemic, critics of the corona measures by the are again today Salzburg city center marches. However, more people than before took part in the “walk” entitled “Salzburg wakes up”. The police counted around 1,300 participants, otherwise there were a few hundred on average. The demonstration was peaceful.
The rally route led from Mozartplatz over Getreidegasse and Müllnersteg to Mirabellplatz and over the Staatsbrücke back to the starting point. During the march, communications officers pointed out the applicable corona rules. A police spokesman told the APA that there were a few complaints about not wearing the FFP2 mask.
Demo in Bregenz
In Vorarlberg’s state capital Bregenz, around 5,000 people demonstrated against the upcoming lockdown and the announced compulsory vaccination on Sunday afternoon. The participants in the rally – apparently including many from Germany and Switzerland – marched under the motto “Against the division, we stick together”. No incidents were known for the time being, the police said. Very few of the participants adhered to the FFP2 mask requirement. Distance rules were also not observed.
Arson attack on Linz town hall
A flame from a gas cartridge, with which a stranger apparently died on Friday evening Facade of the New Town Hall in Linz wanted to set fire to, gives rise to speculation about the motive. Police and politicians fear the Covid measures as a motive for the ignition. A police spokeswoman told the APA that it was being investigated in all directions. The perpetrator has not yet been investigated.
The stranger had set fire to the gas canister on the house wall at 6.15 p.m. “The resulting two to three meter high jet of flame could not spread on the concrete wall and was quickly extinguished by the fire brigade,” said the police report.
A black soot stain appeared on the concrete wall. “The perpetrator is fleeting,” said the police spokeswoman. A witness observed the unidentified person running away. “Maybe it was just a coincidence that the Friday demonstration was taking place on the other side of the Nibelungen Bridge at the same time,” he says Linz Mayor Klaus Luger quoted in the newspaper. He was worried that the heated mood due to the lockdown, mandatory vaccination & Co. could boil over.
The police are investigating as well as after Arson attack on a police car in the Ebelsberg district of Linz last week due to property damage. In Ebelsberg, two 16-year-olds and one 20-year-old are said to have poured gasoline on a parked police car and set it on fire. After their investigation, they confessed that they had originally even tried to ambush officials, attack them, and even douse them with gasoline and set them on fire. Your motive: The officials had checked compliance with the corona rules