I know you're chomping at the bit for the shootings & bombings to start. Don't worry, we're likely not far away from that type of violence you and your goons are calling for.
Austrian far-right Freedom Party protests against COVID measures
Freedom Party supporters among thousands protesting in Vienna against COVID lockdown and mandatory vaccinations.
Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl, who announced earlier this week that he had tested positive for COVID-19, referred to the measures as “dictatorship”.
Kickl must self-isolate for 14 days, so he will not be able to attend the Vienna protest.
Michael Bonvalot, an Austrian journalist and author, told Al Jazeera the far-right movement – mainly from the Freedom Party – have capitalised on the discontent some have towards the government’s COVID regulations.
“What the far right did is that they saw some layer of the population that wasn’t entirely happy with the necessary measures against the pandemic,” he said, speaking from Vienna.
Bonvalot said the far right is organising around the anti-COVID rules and adding anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to their agenda.
“If we look at the numbers right now, I think there is 20-25 percent of the population which are not entirely happy and are close to some kind of conspiracy theories, and that’s who the right-wing extremists are trying to recruit,” he said.
In the areas where the right-wing movement is strong, “[fewer] people are vaccinated and more people get ill,” he added.