Angry and divided, Austrians argue over Covid-19 lockdown as Christmas nears

Visitors explore the traditional annual Christmas Market in Vienna, Austria, on Nov 15, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

VIENNA (AFP, NYTIMES) - Ahead of the Christmas holidays, Austria shut its shops, restaurants and festive markets on Monday (Nov 22), returning to lockdown in the most dramatic Covid-19 restriction seen in Western Europe for months.

The decision has prompted a fierce backlash, with tens of thousands taking to the streets, some blaming the government for not doing more to avert the latest coronavirus wave crashing into Europe.

At a time when vaccinated people were looking forward to a return to traditional holiday rituals, the decision was a blow that angered some and frustrated nearly everyone.

During the Christmas season last year, Mr Daniel Zeman was not able to sell any of his handmade apple-ginger liqueur because Austria, along with the rest of Europe, was in lockdown.

He finally opened his stand four days ago, only to have the government announce that Sunday would be the last day.

"If we have to close down in January, I understand that," said Mr Zeman. "But now it is Christmas, and everyone wants to be together, to drink punch, buy gifts and do things with their families."

As they wake up on Monday morning, Austria's 8.9 million people will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise.

The Alpine nation is also imposing a sweeping vaccine mandate from Feb 1 - joining the Vatican as the only places in Europe with such a requirement.

Battling a resurgent pandemic almost two years since Covid-19 first emerged, several countries on the continent have reintroduced curbs, often choosing to ban unvaccinated people from venues such as restaurants and bars.

But not since vaccines became widely available has a European Union country had to re-enter a nationwide lockdown.

Christmas decoration at a Christmas market in Salzburg, Austria, on Nov 21, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

Austria's decision punctures earlier promises that tough virus restrictions would be a thing of the past.

Over the summer, then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had declared the pandemic over.

But plateauing vaccination rates, record case numbers and a spiralling death toll have forced the government to walk back such bold claims.

After taking office in October, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg criticised the "shamefully low" vaccination rate - 66 per cent compared with France's 75 per cent - and banned people who were unvaccinated from public spaces.

When that proved ineffective at squelching the latest round of infections, he announced a nationwide lockdown of 20 days, with an evaluation after 10 days.

Schools will remain open, although parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible. Working remotely is also recommended.

Political analyst Thomas Hofer blamed Mr Schallenberg for maintaining the fiction of a successfully contained pandemic for too long.

"The government didn't take the warnings of a next wave seriously," he told Agence France-Presse. "The chaos is evident."

While many Austrians spent their weekend ahead of the stay-at-home order enjoying mulled wine or finishing shopping, a crowd of 40,000 marched through Vienna decrying dictatorship.

Mr Andreas Schneider, a 31-year-old from Belgium who works as an economist in the Austrian capital, described the lockdown as a tragedy. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, especially now that we have the vaccine," he said.

Called to rally by a far-right political party, some protesters wore a yellow star reading "not vaccinated", mimicking the Star of David Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust.

Alongside the worried citizens are others who "are becoming radicalised", Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Sunday, the same day that around 6,000 people protested in the city of Linz.

But the fury is not limited to far-right activists, as the throngs that filled Vienna's streets on Saturday attested. Police estimated the crowd at 40,000, with many families and others far outnumbering the right-wing extremists.

Most Austrian marchers refrained from the violence seen in the Netherlands, where a protest against the government's coronavirus measures descended into rioting in Rotterdam last Friday night, with attacks on police, and cars and bicycles set on fire.

The anti-mandate fury had been building in Austria for a week, after the government imposed a lockdown on the roughly two million people who were not vaccinated.

Police, given the task of enforcing the measure, said the unvaccinated had become "clearly more radical", Mr Nehammer said on Sunday.

People visit the Christmas market amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Salzburg, Austria, on Nov 19, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

A lead editorial for Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten took the government in Vienna to task for allowing the situation to become so politicised, with warring camps viewing one another as the enemy and the opponents of vaccines dismissing scientific research as politically motivated.

"We have allowed that mistletoe-twig therapists are immensely popular and that alleged healers, layers-on of hands and preachers of hate have become acceptable against the modern researchers and pharmacologists," wrote Mr Manfred Perterer, the paper's editor-in-chief.

He called for all relevant groups - not just politicians, but scientists, cultural and social leaders - to engage in dialogue that would help ease some of the fears of those who are not vaccinated.

"Above all, the pandemic needs to be depoliticised," said Mr Perterer. "Communication needs to be clear again."

A partly cordoned-off area at a Christmas market in Salzburg, Austria, on Nov 21, 2021. PHOTO; AFP

Mr Nehammer echoed that idea on Sunday, saying that the freedom that many of the protesters insist they want can be achieved only through vaccination.

"It is not a question of ideology, it is a question of convincing; we can't do and try enough to convince so that the unvaccinated get vaccinated," he said.

The alternative could be the vaccine mandate that the Austrian government plans to introduce in February as a last resort. It is not clear whether that would persuade people to get inoculated or further inflame opponents.

At least one vaccine sceptic lined up on Sunday with several dozen other people outside Vienna's Christmas market in front of City Hall to receive their first jabs.

Mr Georg Nichitut, who works in construction in Vienna, and his wife - who marched the previous day in the protest - were among those who waited nearly an hour for their shots.

Mr Nichitut said he had questions that nobody had been able to answer about what would happen to him if he had side effects or even what those might be. But to keep working, he said he reluctantly was surrendering to the vaccine.

"I don't want it, and I don't like it, but what else am I going to do?" he said. "I don't have any other choice."

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