Austrians protest new lockdown & mandatory vaccine

Thousands of people protested in Austria's capital Vienna on Saturday.

A day after the country's government announced strict new coronavirus restrictions -- another lockdown, and compulsory vaccination next year.

**Austria has mandated a lockdown & mandatory vaccine to stop the spread of Coronavirus and protect its citizens. The NHS state the coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective and give you the best protection against COVID-19 for more information go to the NHS website **

Noisy crowds, cheering, whistling and banging drums, streamed into Heroes' Square in central Vienna.

Many protesters waved flags and carried signs with slogans such as "no to vaccination" and "enough is enough".

"I want my freedom back," says this woman. "One would think we live in a democracy but now, this is a coronavirus dictatorship."

Roughly 66% of Austria's population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe.

Daily infections are still setting records there, even after a lockdown was imposed on the unvaccinated this week.

That led the government to announce on Friday that Austria would go back into lockdown on Monday - vaccines will be compulsory as of February 1.

"We are against the lockdown and the Austrian government policies as far as the coronavirus goes. This has been going on for two years and there is no end in sight. Something new is announced every day and we don't know what we can believe anymore. That's the situation."

Many Austrians are skeptical about vaccines, a view encouraged by the Freedom Party (FPO), the third-biggest in parliament.

The FPO had already been planning a show of force in Vienna on Saturday when Friday's announcement fired up its base.

Although party leader Herbert Kickl could not attend because he has caught COVID-19, thousands answered calls by the FPO and other vaccine-critical groups to protest across the city.

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Austria to plunge EVERYONE into full lockdown from Monday as Covid cases soar & ‘bodies stored in hospital corridors’
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