The demonstration, under colorful umbrellas, was organized by the Fridays for Future movement – which denounces far-right opposition to action to tackle climate change<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After Germany, demonstrations against far-right and racism spread to neighboring Austria, with the participation of tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n
In Vienna, 35,000 people, according to police, or 80,000 according to organizers, gathered late Friday afternoon outside the Parliament on the famous Ring boulevard, braving the rain. "We are here, all together, to defend democracy and stand up against the extremist movements that are spreading in Europe," 25-year-old student Elena Tiefenbeck told AFP. "And so that the past doesn't repeat itself," she added, referring to the fact that the far-right FP\u00d6 party is leading the polls ahead of the next parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n
The prospect is "very worrying" for Barbara Braubeck, a 53-year-old psychotherapist, because "it would further divide society".<\/p>\n
"(Herbert) Kickl is a Nazi" read a poster about the far-right, anti-immigrant party leader who wants to be "Volkskanzler", i.e. "people's chancellor", an expression used by Adolf Hitler and causing much comment in the Austrian press.<\/p>\n
The demonstration, under colorful umbrellas, was organized by the Fridays for the Future movement – which denounces the far-right's opposition to taking action to tackle climate change – and two other organisations, one of which defends Black Lives Matter in Austria and the other asylum seekers. The Social Democrats, the Greens and many trade unions participated in the demonstrations.<\/p>\n
"Some of us have already packed our bags or are thinking about which country we could flee to," said councilor Mireille Ngoso, who is of Congolese descent and an activist with the group Black Voices in Austria.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations were also organized in Salzburg and Innsbruck.<\/p>\n
As in Germany, it was prompted by the revelation on January 10 by the German investigative journalism outlet Correctiv that a meeting of far-right and extremist organizations was organized in Potsdam in November, where a plan to mass deportation of foreigners or people of non-German origin was discussed.<\/p>\n
Among those who took part in the "summit of shame", as some media called it, were members of the AfD and Austria's Martin Zellner, a leader of the "identity movement". Zellner presented a plan to deport to North Africa some 2 million people: asylum seekers, foreigners and also German citizens who have not "assimilated", according to Correctiv.<\/p>\n
More than 200 demonstrations are planned for this weekend in Germany.<\/p>\n
Sources: APE-MPE, AFP<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The text describes protests against the far-right and racism in Austria, with tens of thousands of people participating. The protests were organized by the movement "Fridays for Future" and two other organizations advocating for black people and asylum seekers. The protests aim to defend democracy and oppose extremist movements spreading in Europe. The leader of the far-right party FP\u00d6, Herbert Kickl, was criticized during the protests, with some calling him a Nazi. The protests were held in Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. The protests in Austria were inspired by similar protests in Germany, which were sparked by revelations of a meeting where far-right and extremist organizations discussed a plan for mass deportations. Over 200 protests are planned in Germany for the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[506,3,201,575,576,136,577],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-afd","tag-cyprus","tag-europe","tag-far-right","tag-germany","tag-isiyiioeiyi","tag-protests"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n