Austria becomes latest nation to ban ‘Freedom Convoy’ following France and Belgium’s decision to block Covid restriction protests inspired by Canadian truckers
- Austrian police said the convoy would cause an ‘unacceptable nuisance’
- Hundreds were planning to bring Vienna to a halt today with the convoy
- Paris has threatened two-year prison sentences for those taking part
- The convoy has been inspired by a blockage by truckers in Canada’s capital
Austria has become the latest country to ban Freedom Convoys inspired by Canadian truckers protesting against vaccine mandates.
Hundreds of vehicles were planning to bring Vienna to a halt today before police announced the demonstrations are not lawful.
The move comes after France and Belgium outlawed the protests on Thursday as a convoy moves towards Paris and Brussels, threatening traffic chaos.
Austria has become the latest country to ban Freedom Convoys inspired by Canadian truckers protesting against vaccine mandates. Pictured: anti-Covid protests in Vienna last month
The move comes after France and Belgium outlawed the protests on Thursday as a convoy moves towards Paris and Brussels. Pictured: the convoy departing in Nice
Protestors and supporters set up at a blockade at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the US
Austrian police said in a tweet the convoy would cause an ‘unacceptable nuisance in terms of noise in a popular recreation area’. and increase pollution levels.
They added: ‘The planned use of horns and loudspeakers to bypass the ring road throughout the evening and night significantly exceeds the level of noise that can otherwise be tolerated at meetings.
‘After weighing up, the interests of protecting health and public welfare were given greater weight than the interests of the organisers in holding the protest.’
Despite the ban in France, hundreds of motorists are still en route to the capital from the southern city of Nice demanding an end to Covid restrictions.
But the Paris police prefecture fears they will paralyse the city and have declared the convoy an ‘undeclared mobilisation’ in a bid to avoid similar scenes to Canada’s capital of Ottawa which has suffered nearly two weeks of gridlock.
Police have warned those those taking part in the protests risk a two-year prison sentence, a three-year driving ban and a €4,500 fine.
But the demonstrators say despite the threats they will continue with their planned route to the French capital before moving to Brussels, hoping the new measures will bring further attention to their cause.
Belgian authorities also said they would also ban freedom convoys amid warnings motorists will descend on the city on Monday.
‘Means are being put in place to prevent the blocking of the Brussels-Capital Region,’ the mayor of the Belgian capital, Philippe Close, said on Twitter.
About 200 protesters assembled in a parking lot in Nice, on France’s Mediterranean coast, before setting off in a ‘freedom convoy’ against the country’s Covid-19 measures
The French protests were inspired by Canadian truckers (pictured last night) who have blocked roads in major cities and shut down Ottawa
Paris cops warned protesters: ‘There will be a special deployment… to prevent blockages of major roads, issue tickets and arrest those who infringe on this protest ban.’
The convoy aims to ‘block the capital by hindering road traffic,’ the statement adds.
‘Due to the risk of public order disturbances that this gathering could cause, the Prefect of Police issues an order prohibiting such demonstrations, from Friday February 11, 2022 to Monday February 14, 2022 inclusive.’
Despite the ban, organisers of the convoy have indicated that they will continue their journey to force a confrontation with the authorities.
They are being supported by the Yellow Vest anti-government movement, which has brought chaos to cities including the French capital in recent years.
French activists parade during the start of their ‘Convoi de la liberte’ (The Freedom Convoy), a vehicular convoy protest converging on Paris to protest COVID-19 vaccine requirements and restrictions in Nice, France, February 9, 2022
Canadian protesters stand by a burning barrel as they block the access leading from the Ambassador Bridge in Ontario
A French activist holds a poster reading ‘Resistance’ in front of a French and Canadian flag before the start of their ‘Convoi de la liberte’ (The Freedom Convoy) on Wednesday
Eyhande Abeberry, 52, a participant at the send-off in the southern city of Bayonne, told AFP that the government’s vaccine pass for access to much of public life was ‘an aberration’.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said he recognised the public’s ‘weariness’ with infection control measures, but insisted that France had been among the European countries with ‘the fewest restrictions that infringe on citizens’ freedom’.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said that she ‘understood’ the protesters’ goals, saying that it was ‘another form of the yellow vests’ demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron that rocked France in 2018.
Many of the French vehicles are displaying Canadian flags in a tribute to the truckers who are protesting against their own governments Covid-19 restrictions.
Protesters in Nice confirmed they planned to head first to Paris, then on to Brussels – headquarters of the European Union.
They are calling for the scrapping of rules barring people from public venues if they don’t have a COVID-19 vaccination, they said.
‘Lots of people don’t understand why a vaccine pass is in force in France,’ said a spokesman for the convoy organisers, and who gave his name as Denis.
‘Our work is to communicate to Europe that putting in place a health pass until 2023 is something the majority of our fellow citizens cannot understand.’
The protesters in Nice (pictured setting off on Wednesday) said they planned to head first to Paris, then on to Brussels — headquarters of the European Union
Members of the ‘Freedom Convoy 2022’ gather before heading to Paris, in Nice, Wednesday
The so-called Freedom Convoy began in January in western Canada – launched in anger at requirements that truckers either be vaccinated or test and isolate when crossing the US-Canadian border.
But the movement has morphed into a broader protest against Covid-related restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, and put a spotlight on pandemic curbs around the world.
While police say the number of protesters in Ottawa is dropping, a blockade that started at the vital Ambassador Bridge linking Canada and the United States is disrupting trade.
Demonstrators have aired a litany of grievances encompassing COVID-19 health measures, a carbon tax and other legislation.
‘We continue to know that science and public health rules and guidance is the best way to this pandemic is the way we’re going to get to the other side,’ Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters as he entered a Liberal caucus meeting on Wednesday.
Calls have gone out on social media for similar rallies in Europe and the United States.
In Ottawa, some people are using those media platforms to make a plea: ‘Make Ottawa boring again,’ playing on the Make America Great Again mantra of former US president Donald Trump, who has expressed support for the truckers.
Meanwhile, another copycat convoy in New Zealand faced off with police outside the country’s parliament.
Policemen stand near the truckers sit-in, after the mayor of Ottawa has declared a state of emergency in the Canadian capital after a 10-day-long protest by truck drivers over Covid-19 restrictions that has gridlocked its city centre, in Ottawa, Canada, 07 February 2022
A convoy of trucks and other vehicles sit parked on the streets in front of Parliament in Wellington on February 8, 2022, during a demonstration against Covid restrictions, inspired by a similar demonstration in Canada
Demonstrators camped inside the Wellington legislature’s grounds vowed to stay ‘as long as it takes’ to force the government into lifting Covid measures.
The protest, which began Tuesday as a copycat of action by the Canadian truckers, turned tense as about 100 police stood guard on the steps of parliament.
Many of the vehicles that jammed central Wellington’s streets the previous day had left by Wednesday, but a hardcore of several hundred protesters pitched tents and refused to leave.
Three were arrested after trying to breach the police line as supporters chanted ‘let them through’ but officials said the event remained largely peaceful.
New Zealand requires mandatory Covid vaccinations for people working in sectors such as health, law enforcement, education and defence, with those who refuse the jab facing the sack.
Proof of vaccination must also be shown to enter restaurants, sports events and religious services.
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