On the evening of the election, the organizers of the “Thursday demonstrations” announced that they would be taking to the streets again. Numerous demonstrators are expected at the University of Vienna in the evening; the organizers are expecting 5,000-10,000. Political support for the demo came from the Greens.
“It’s a really important evening. So that the many people who didn’t vote for the FPÖ have the opportunity to take action,” said Natalie Assmann, spokeswoman for the organization on Thursday, explaining why they were already demonstrating before the first exploratory talks. “So that these people can also be heard during the coalition negotiations.” However, no further demonstrations are planned for the time being; we would like to wait and see how the negotiations progress.
Police are preparing
The original plan was to move from Parliament via Neustiftgasse and Burggasse to Maria-Theresien-Platz. On Wednesday it was said that there was a legal ban mile due to a Federal Council meeting, which is why the demo procession will now start at the university, walk through the first district and over the ring and end at parliament.
The organizers are hoping above all that there will be no disruptive actions from the right, such as the Identitarians. The Vienna State Police Directorate emphasized that there were “sufficient” personnel on site.
Some politicians are also expected to take part: The Vienna Greens, like the SPÖ, called on women to take part in the demo under the motto “FIX ZAM against the right!” on. The Green Club leader Sigrid Maurer posted on Instagram: “The first demo is on Thursday again. I hope I see you there!”, National Council member David Stögmüller also announced his coming.
First Thursday demonstrations in 2000
The first Thursday demonstrations took place almost 25 years ago. After the first black-blue coalition was sworn in in February 2000, more than 150,000 people gathered at Vienna’s Heldenplatz to protest against the new ÖVP-FPÖ government and its feared “racism and social cuts”. In the following two years, rallies with thousands of demonstrators took place weekly. At one point, the protesters broke into the Hotel Marriott, where the then FPÖ Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and ÖVP Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel were scheduled to appear. There were also “resistance readings” in which Elfriede Jelinek, among others, took part.
18 years later the protest was revived. Under the slogan “It’s Thursday again” people took to the streets against Turquoise-Blue under ÖVP Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz and FPÖ Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache from October 2018. Not just in Vienna, but also in cities like Linz or Innsbruck. Thursday’s demonstrations came to a natural end when the Ibiza affair broke up the coalition.