Throughout the day, the eXXpress reported on the demo against the corona measures. In the early afternoon politicians of the FPÖ gave speeches at Heldenplatz, later the protest culminated in a long demonstration procession on the ring. The numbers of the participants were corrected upwards several times, initially to 20,000, later the police spoke of 44,000, the FPÖ said late in the evening that 100,000 demonstrators had been on the road.
The demonstration was mostly peaceful, but the march had to be stopped a few times. For example, individual participants attacked observers with chunks of ice. All troublemakers and aggressors were specifically stopped by the police in order to determine their identity. A total of 1400 officers were on duty. Reports of the use of pyrotechnics and the disregard of the mask requirement were placed. In addition, there were arrests, among other things, because of the Prohibition Act and because of alleged attempted resistance to the state authority. In the late afternoon, according to the police, the balance was a total of four arrests.
Aside from the peaceful protest, a fire speech by FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl at the beginning of the demonstration aroused the tempers – the eXXpress reported. In his closing speech, the FPÖ boss turned to the demo participants again and announced “an uncomfortable Christmas for the government”. Like a preacher who sends his apostles on missions, Kickl also explained: The participants “like to take this power with them outside, to their work colleagues, to school. Then we’ll be even more next time. “
