Up to 15,000 participants – large crowd at anti-right demonstration in Vienna

Friday afternoon 6 p.m.: According to initial estimates, 15,000 participants took to the streets in Vienna despite unfavorable conditions to take a stand against right-wing extremism and racism.

Sea of ​​lights to the right
In the form of a sea of ​​lights in front of the parliament in Vienna, on which slogans were projected to “defend democracy”. There were also protest events in Innsbruck and Salzburg to demonstrate against right-wing extremism and racism.

The protest was organized on the initiative of the NGOs Black Voices, Fridays for Future and the Platform for a Humane Asylum Policy. But SOS Mitmensch and others such as Volkshilfe, the Burgtheater, the Mauthausen Committee, Amnesty International and the Catholic Youth also supported the campaign.

The SPÖ and the Greens also called on Twitter to defend democracy. “What Germany can do, we can do too. “Today let’s take to the streets together against right-wing hatred,” the Greens tweeted.

Eight times more participants than expected
The demonstration was modeled on similar demonstrations against right-wing extremism in Germany last week. In total, approximately 910,600 people are said to have participated in numerous large and small cities across the country. In Munich the protest even had to be stopped: the police had expected 25,000 participants there. Ultimately, according to the organizers, 200,000 showed up, which meant that the emergency brake had to be pulled.