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The Viennese police prevented disruptions against the New Year’s concert in the Musikverein in downtown Vienna on Saturday. Opponents of CoV measures wanted to disturb the concert with a background of noise.
In the past few days, opponents of Covid measures had been called to disrupt the New Year’s concert in the Vienna Musikverein with drums, sirens, whistles and other objects that cause noise, the police said on Saturday. To prevent this, numerous police officers were deployed in the area to guarantee that the concert ran smoothly.
The Viennese police carried out cordoning off and security measures to prevent people from flowing into a non-reported gathering in advance. Any noise that goes far beyond that of “normal” road traffic could have disrupted the concert at the Musikverein and possibly even led to it being broken off.
Drums and speakers removed
Before the beginning and during the concert, according to the police, a total of around 40 people were noticed who, distributed in small groups, apparently wanted to hold an illegal rally in front of the Wiener Musikverein. They had drums and loudspeakers with them that were temporarily removed from them by the police. According to police chief Gerhard Pürstl, all attempts to interfere were successfully prevented and the concert was guaranteed to run smoothly.