Demonstrators hold flags and placards as they march to protest against the COVID 19 restrictions and mandatory vaccination in Vienna, Austria on December 4, 2021. Dec 4, Reuters - Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through several northwest European cities on Saturday to protest the coronaviruses restrictions imposed amid a surge in infections.
Austria became the first country in Western Europe to impose a lock down, which is set to last 20 days, and said it would make vaccination mandatory from February.
Some of the more than 40,000 demonstrators in Vienna carried signs reading "I will decide for myself to make Austria Great Again and New Elections" -- a nod to the political turmoil that has seen three chancellors in the past two months. There were around 1,200 police officers deployed for the march on the central Ring boulevard and a 1,500 strong counter-protest, both allowed under the terms of Austria's lockdown.
Hundreds of people protested against the restrictions that began last weekend in the central Dutch town of Utrecht.
It was the first major demonstration in the Netherlands against the measures, which include a nighttime closure of bars, restaurants and most stores in order to stem a wave of COVID 19 cases that are threatening to overwhelm the healthcare system. Two weeks ago, there were violent protests after the Dutch government announced plans to ban most unvaccinated people from bars, restaurants and other public places.
Utrecht demonstrator Marit van Hunen said that they were against having no freedom to decide what happens to their body.
The plans haven't been enacted yet, because they face strong opposition in parliament. In the German capital, Frankfurt, police broke up a demonstration of hundreds of people for not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing, using batons and pepper spray after they were attacked by a group of protesters.
In Berlin, where a new government is due to take office within a few days, small groups gathered to protest a ban on a large demonstration.
German politicians condemned a protest by opponents of the coronaviruses restrictions that took place late on Friday outside the home of Petra Koepping, health minister in the eastern state of Saxony, which currently has Germany's highest infection rate. Some said it smacked Nazi-era intimidation.