Kudos to the Austrians

[scottishtablet23]

In Vienna yesterday, a massive peaceful demonstration on an unimaginable scale took place to protest against mandatory vaccinations. People of all ages took to the streets. Mainstream British media, as usual, are misreporting their numbers at 44,000 - there were at least 6-7 times over that many people, if not more. Austrians are primarily peaceful law-abiding citizens, so hopefully it'll send a strong message to the world when they take to the streets like this.

And from Austria to Australia. Six months in prison for sneezing whilst unvaccinated:

twitter.com/Kukicat7/status/1470082119565201408

Instead we need to take our own freedom back and keep away from the tyranny in whatever way is necessary, whether that is taking a different job, moving schools, taking children out of school etc etc.

I am assuming also your own hospitals?

@luinagreine I hope you’re right but look at what’s going on the world. Look how governments are treating their people and what freedoms are being taken away.

I’m certainly not quivering in fear. I am angry though! And I’ll fight and resist and protest because I’ve seen where these things can lead and it’s really not somewhere you want to be...

LOL I'm in Vienna and those "peaceful demonstrations" are basically an excuse for an excursion/party during a time when parties are banned. People around Austria pile into buses to head to the capital and there is loads of alcohol in play. People drink beer, bang on drums, play some music, chant and bit and meet other people. Exactly what you'd do at a festival or party. Most people attending those are far-right or far-left in idealogy, and a gathering of nazis in Austria is absolutely nothing worth "kudos".

News to actually be proud of is that Austria does have a majority vaccinated (70%) and worldwide one of the highest booster rates (30%). Normal people in Austria don't really care about the demonstrations at all aside from being a nuisance at weekends that could affect your travel plans. A bunch of dimwits looking for an excuse to party during a lockdown isn't worth applauding.

I also give absolutely no fucks what ignorant, rabid eejits like you

Is this really honestly necessary?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10282743/amp/Omicron-Covid-Australia-Anti-vaxxers-spit-cough-sneeze-Queensland-staff-face-huge-fines.html

Fines for anti-vaxxers who DELIBERATELY spit, sneeze or cough on healthcare workers. That actually seems legit, no? And nowhere near as dramatic as the link to a meme on Twitter which was the only thing offered in support of ludicrous claims.

Correction: hospitality rather than healthcare workers

So, ‘the normal’ in Austria don’t care about a few libertarian loonies with placards?

Businesses who rely on their custom being shut out may do though.

It looks like the protest was called by the Freedom Party, a far-right party. You know, far right. If that sits well with you, I can't help you.

so enough of your bullying attitude!! You bully me, when I bully you, not a second sooner! Shameful person!!

😆😆😆

@soredust it’s quite incredible isn’t it.

@TheNoonBell

It appears it does now TooMany. The far right will soon be the 95% of society that aren't far left.

WTF. Europe is so left wing

The Freedom Party is described as far-right in all publications. If you don't like it, I can't help you.

Fight the system if you want to, for most of us it’s better to work the system, take advantage of what you can. The present government is certainly morally corrupt but they have done a good job with Covid vaccination and I give them credit for that, many other states are much worse off.

Far right lol. Since when has protesting in favour of body autonomy and the right to choose what is injected into your own body, (remember "my body, my choice"), been far right confused?

Are you Austrian? Do you live in Austria? This thread is specifically about the situation in Austria and it's an objective fact that the anti-vaxx movement strongly overlaps with the far right politics. The anti-covid agenda was hijacked by the far right Freedom Party since the beginning of the pandemic.

If you actually witness the rallies it's obvious that a huge number of participants are neo Nazis. They wave the version of the Austrian flag with an eagle on it which is closely connected to right wing ideology. Many claim they are the "new Jews" and actually march along wearing stars of David.

From an outsider's perspective I can understand that vaccinations are about bodily autonomy but the specific situation in Austria and Germany is absolutely and 100% connected with politics. There is a direct correlation between political voting demographics and vaccine uptake. The epicentre of the fourth wave was Braunau, Hitler's birthplace. Not surprisingly, the town is very right wing and the covid numbers were astronomical due to fake news propagated by the Freedom party.

Obviously there IS a minority of people here who are anti-vaxx for non-political reasons, just like in every other country including the UK. The big difference is that none of the anti-vaxx communities in other countries have succeeded in causing catastrophe on such a scale as in Austria. The fourth lockdown here was the direct result of un-vaccinated, predominantly right-wing people filling up hospital beds and bringing the health system to a collapse. In no other country has a mainstream political party be able to mobilise such numbers of voters to directly sabotage covid control measures.

@frazzledali - as much as I pity posters who come on here and behave like rabid dogs, posts like yours also serve a very useful purpose in proving just exactly the type of people who generate and fuel hatred and divide in this country.... and YOU call me FAR RIGHT?!?

@CupcakeTowers Thanks for that explanation

@CupcakeTowers

LOL I'm in Vienna and those "peaceful demonstrations" are basically an excuse for an excursion/party during a time when parties are banned. People around Austria pile into buses to head to the capital and there is loads of alcohol in play. People drink beer, bang on drums, play some music, chant and bit and meet other people. Exactly what you'd do at a festival or party. Most people attending those are far-right or far-left in idealogy, and a gathering of nazis in Austria is absolutely nothing worth "kudos".

News to actually be proud of is that Austria does have a majority vaccinated (70%) and worldwide one of the highest booster rates (30%). Normal people in Austria don't really care about the demonstrations at all aside from being a nuisance at weekends that could affect your travel plans. A bunch of dimwits looking for an excuse to party during a lockdown isn't worth applauding.

I watched almost an hour long footage of people of all ages, lots of families, the elderly, some in wheelchairs peacefully making their way down the main road.... 99% of them didn't at all look like the people your describe above and none of them had beer bottles in their hands.

For me, it is not so unbelievable that people (vaccinated and unvaccinated) simply had enough and want change and didn't just go to Vienna on a cold winter day just to have a laugh with their mates.

Austria and to a lesser extent other countries has a problem with neo nazis, ironically their freedom cause is just an excuse their own brand of domination and discrimination. Thankfully they are a small minority

I think it’s interesting that some posters are trying to discredit all these protestors by associating them with right wing thugs. Much like calling anyone who has decided not to have this vaccine/give their children this vaccine or who is against vaccine mandates/passports ‘antivaxx’ to discredit their opinion by lumping them in with conspiracy theorists.

I agree @scottishtablet23 most of the people I’ve seen in the videos are families/elderly people etc.

same happening in London now (18th Dec), lots of live footage on youtube

Is it it me or has there been an influx of anti-vaxxer/conspiracy theorists on MN lately? There are so many of these types of threads at the moment. I think lots of people are really scared and unable to accept that things are looking serious right now.