2024-02-03 20:17:28
About a week after the demos in Vienna, Innsbruck and Salzburg against the right, there was also a rally in Graz on Saturday, organized by the “Alliance for Human Rights and Democracy”. According to their own count, the organizers said there were around 10,000 participants, the police said there were several thousand, and an APA estimate showed around 5,000 participants in the marching column on the main bridge. According to the police and organizers, there were no incidents; the event ended with a sea of lights.
The first participants arrived at Europaplatz at the main train station before 3 p.m., and after a short time around 2,500 people had already gathered, with a constant influx. At around 3:45 p.m. we marched from the train station across Annenstrasse to the main square, where many people were already waiting. Around 5,000 demo participants (APA estimate) passed the main bridge. When questioned, the police said there were several thousand participants. The manifestation was registered for around 5,000 people. As of Saturday lunchtime, around 135 clubs and organizations had joined forces in the alliance. The “Action Consensus” defined goals and appeals to the participants: “There are many of us. We are building a firewall in Austria against racism, xenophobia and right-wing extremism. We are defending democracy.”
In spring-like temperatures and sunshine, a striking number of young people and a considerable number of older students gathered – all extremely disciplined. When the police made an initial loudspeaker announcement at the main train station to draw attention to their audio and video recordings, the conversations immediately stopped. The participants had a number of self-made banners with messages such as “You are good the way you are”, “Remigrate to your knees” and “I am so angry, I even have a sign with me”. Some posters were explicitly directed against FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, such as “Kickl away”. However, most of them were designed to be humorous. The father of probably the youngest manifestor, an infant in a stroller, had a poster: “My 1st demo against the right.”
Among the participants in the demo were z. B. Fridays for Future also includes a number of cultural initiatives, from smaller clubs such as the European Literature Circle Kapfenberg to the large opera houses, the Schauspielhaus and Next Liberty. These are joined by the festivals Diagonale, Elevate, La Strada, Styriarte and steirischer herbst. From the political side, the demonstration included KPÖ Mayor Elke Kahr and City Councilor for Finance Manfred Eber (both KPÖ), as well as Deputy Mayor Judith Schwentner and State Parliament Club leader Sandra Krautwaschl (both Greens). An older lady on the edge of the marching column on Annenstrasse, who had just been happily chatting, suddenly became very quiet. She pointed out to her friend that they had just walked past so-called “Stolpersteine” (memorial stones in the ground for expelled or murdered Nazi opponents or people of Jewish faith, note).
During the speeches on the main square, representatives from “Grandmas Against the Right” and the Solidarity Alliance, among others, addressed the people. “We grandmothers against the right are the generation that was still able to ask our parents how it could have gotten to this point. The danger to democracy is creeping up, but there are enough indications in advance – such as the degradation of people who do not support themselves group,” said the representative of “Grandmas Against the Right.” Other speakers said, for example: B., only a strengthening of civil society can help against right-wing extremist conspiracy theories and remigration theories – and empathy instead of retreating into separate worlds. Another speaker said that being against right-wing extremism is an attitude, but not an action. However, action must be taken permanently, through civil society structures.
The police accompanied the manifestation with a corresponding contingent of law enforcement officers. A police spokesman told APA that no incidents had occurred during initial assessments of the situation. The organizers provided their own steward service and did not report any disruptions or incidents.
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