Nearly 35,000 people protest in Vienna against new Covid restrictions

Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital city Vienna to protest against the new restrictions introduced against the deadly coronavirus. The government has imposed a new lockdown and mandated anti-Covid vaccines from next year onwards.

As per police, crowds of nearly 35,000 people gathered in the city whistling, clapping and banging drums. Many were seen waving Austrian and other flags. Protestors were also seen with placards that read “no to vaccination”, “enough is enough” or “down with the fascist dictatorship”.

Not just Vienna but various other European cities are seeing protests.

The Dutch police fired warning shots on protestors in Rotterdam who were angered by the new restrictions introduced to battle the deadly coronavirus. The police also used water cannons to disperse demonstrators as they set off fireworks in one of the main shopping streets.

Fireworks were set off and police fired several warning shots," Rotterdam police said in a statement.

The police further said that the riot police later launched charges at the demonstrators as they said, "The water launcher has been deployed."

Restrictions have also been imposed for the unvaccinated people in Germany. People have been banned from restaurants. Similar restrictions have been imposed in Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Meanwhile, the WHO said that it is "very worried" about the new wave of Covid-19 infections in Europe amid a surge in cases.

WHO’s Europe director, Dr Hans Kluge, while speaking to BBC has warned that 500,000 more deaths could be recorded by March.

As per Kluge, various factors have contributed to the growing cases, including winter season, insufficient vaccine coverage and increasing cases of transmissible Delta variant.

Talking about mandating vaccines, he said that this should be seen as "last resort." However, he added that it would be "very timely" to have a "legal and societal debate" about the issue.

Europe continues to record a wave of Covid-19 cases with countries struggling to battle the deadly coronavirus.