Thousands Protest in Vienna against Mandatory Vaccination

Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called "vaccination box" in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. (Reuters)
Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called "vaccination box" in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. (Reuters)
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Thousands Protest in Vienna against Mandatory Vaccination

Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called "vaccination box" in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. (Reuters)
Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called "vaccination box" in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. (Reuters)

Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all next month.

"The government must go!" crowds chanted at one rally in central Vienna in what has become a routine Saturday event.

Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarized the country as coronavirus cases surge.

In November, the government announced a fourth national lockdown and said it would make vaccinations compulsory for all Austrians, the first European Union country to do so.

A poll for Profil magazine found 51% of those surveyed oppose making jabs mandatory from February, of whom 34% were against compulsory vaccination in general and 17% wanted to wait. The survey found 45% of Austrians favored compulsory vaccination starting in February.

The poll showed Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats in a dead heat for first place at 25%, followed by the right-wing Freedom Party, a strident critic of government policy, at 20%.

The Greens, junior partner in the coalition, were even with the liberal Neos on 11%, while the vaccine-skeptical MFG party scored 6%.

Health authorities have reported more than 1.4 million infections and nearly 14,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out in early 2020.



Russia Advances in Southern Ukraine, Defense Ministry Says 

Members of the National Police Special Purpose Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Members of the National Police Special Purpose Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russia Advances in Southern Ukraine, Defense Ministry Says 

Members of the National Police Special Purpose Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Members of the National Police Special Purpose Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine March 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Russian forces were on Monday advancing in southern Ukraine and had pierced part of the Ukrainian lines less than 50 km (31 miles) southeast of the city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Russian officials and pro-Russian military bloggers.

Reuters could not independently verify the assertions and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces had taken the village of Stepove in the Zaporizhzhia region, pushing through Ukrainian lines.

Yuri Podolyaka, one of the most influential pro-Russian military bloggers, said Russian forces had also smashed their way into the nearby village of Maly Shcherbaky.

"Our units have broken through the first line of defense in the Zaporizhzhia direction," Podolyaka said.

Russia on Sunday tried to drive the last Ukrainian soldiers from western Russia, after a seven-month incursion by Ukraine that aimed to distract Moscow's forces, gain a bargaining chip and rile President Vladimir Putin.