This was confirmed by APA spokeswoman Nina Bussek. The suspension was made last Friday for reasons of evidence, said Bussek. The police action on the first day of the conference caused widespread discussion.
On the morning of March 27, 2023, more than 100 people formed a spontaneous protest march in downtown Vienna. In Johannesgasse, the demonstrators then tried to break through a police cordon in order to get into the restricted area around the Marriott conference hotel on Parkring. The executive responded with the widespread use of pepper spray, and batons were also used. The state police headquarters then announced that 143 people had been reported for serious communal violence, resistance to state authority and serious bodily harm.
Violent action once morest the police
The demonstrators showed “a violent approach once morest the police forces from the start,” the police said in a statement. As a result, two officers were injured. The Vienna State Police Directorate emphasized at the time that pyrotechnic items were also confiscated from some of those arrested.
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Picture gallery: Gas conference in Vienna: Police took violent action once morest activists
(Photo: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER) Bild 1/15
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“But these weren’t firecrackers, just smoke flares, which are sometimes used to attract more attention during demonstrations or occupations, so nothing that would endanger people,” lawyer Clemens Lahner told the APA. In addition, 150 people were surrounded and then searched individually. “Not a single dangerous object was found. The pyrotechnics were found in a different place, outside the cauldron,” said Lahner, referring to the investigation. “So that’s not an argument for peppering the people in the cauldron on a large scale.
As expected, he was pleased regarding the discontinuation of the proceedings. “The police have made the most serious allegations once morest the people who took part in the protests once morest the European Gas Conference. These allegations have proven to be unfounded.” In this context, the lawyer also referred to ongoing proceedings before the Vienna Administrative Court regarding the police’s use of pepper spray. “The police have so far tried to justify this excess of pepper spray with the argument that dangerous attacks were carried out by the demonstrators. But the Vienna public prosecutor’s office apparently sees it differently.”
Criticism: Police acted “very aggressively”.
The deployment of the police had drawn criticism from the human rights organization Amnesty International, among others. The police surrounded demonstrators, acted “very aggressively” and “used pepper spray and batons disproportionately,” it said. The Greens and NEOS then submitted parliamentary questions. The Interior Ministry defended the police strategy and rejected the criticism. According to the ministry, 1,326 civil servants from Vienna and six other federal states were on duty during the first day of the three-day lobbying meeting from March 27th to 29th alone.
By the way, the European Gas Conference is taking place in Vienna once more this year. This time the conference will take place from March 26th to 28th. A specific venue might not yet be found on the organizers’ website.
