The European Gas Conference (EGC), scheduled for March 26 to 28 in Vienna, has been postponed indefinitely. The reason: the organizers fear protests from NGOs, who in turn support the cancellation of the conference.
“The venue, local police and our security teams have informed us of planned activities by protest groups that could endanger the well-being of EGC participants,” organizers said on Thursday. “Alternative regulations” are currently being investigated.
NGOs demand cancellation of the conference
Greenpeace described the reason for the delay as a “pretext” and warned against “criminalizing legitimate protest.” The environmental organization considers the organizer’s action a “success for the climate movement” and calls for the conference to be permanently canceled.
The globalization-critical network Attac and the BlockGas Action Alliance have made similar statements. “Gas companies and their lobbyists obviously do not want to hear or see anything about democratically legitimate climate protest,” says Amina Guggenbichler of BlockGas. “But the climate crisis won’t go away if fossil fuel companies avoid protests.”
2023 Escalation of protest march in Vienna
Last year, a group of demonstrators formed a spontaneous protest march in the center of Vienna. In the Johannesgasse, some demonstrators tried to break through a police cordon to enter the cordoned off area around the Marriott conference hotel at the Parkring. The executive branch responded with the widespread use of pepper spray, and batons were also used.
Police subsequently temporarily arrested 165 people on suspicion of serious communal violence, resistance to state authority and charges of serious bodily harm. In February this year, the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office finally halted the mass trial of all accused activists.
Source: Krone
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