(Original title: Thousands of people took to the streets to protest against inflation and “suicide sanctions” against Russia in the Austrian capital)
Financial Associated Press, September 11 (Editor Zhao Hao)According to a number of foreign media reports, on Saturday (September 11) local time, protests broke out in Vienna, the capital of Austria, with thousands of people taking to the streets to oppose the rising cost of living.
Some people condemned the Austrian government for failing the people and called for the lifting of “suicidal sanctions” against Russia. Others condemned NATO’s belligerent nature, which is pushing Europe towards an unprecedented militarization. Austrian newspaper Heute quoted local police as saying the number of people at the scene was expected to reach 3,000.
Coincidentally, similar protests broke out in Prague, the Czech capital, last Saturday (September 3). At that time, more than 7,000 Czechs poured into Wenceslas Square, who believed that the Czech government had failed to solve the energy crisis and should resign.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Western countries increased sanctions on Russia, disrupting the supply of energy markets and causing European energy prices to soar. After Russia recently announced the indefinite shutdown of the “North Stream-1” gas pipeline, the European energy crisis has further fermented.
Not only that, the Group of Seven (G7) also wants to set a price cap on Russian natural gas. The Russian side responded that it would not work in a non-competitive environment, and Gazprom would completely cut off its supply to EU countries.
European countries have long been highly dependent on Russian gas and oil supplies. The recent sharp rise in energy prices has made the EU more difficult.
The latest news shows that Bonomi, chairman of the Italian Federation of Industrialists, said that if Russia completely stops natural gas supply, Italy will have a natural gas gap of 4 billion cubic meters, and if this gas gap is fully applied to the industrial sector, then almost one-fifth. of Italian industrial production will cease.
Some in industry worry that in a worst-case scenario, Italy could be forced to ration gas.