AUSTRIA: 150-THOUSAND PROTEST AGAINST HAIDER GOVERNMENT

Описание: (19 Feb 2000) Natural Sound

More than 150-thousand people have taken part in a protest in Vienna - the largest yet against the inclusion of Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party in Austria's government.

Throughout the day, tens of thousands of protesters had gathered for smaller rallies held at different points throughout the capital.

Others marched throughout the streets, blowing whistles and shouting anti-government and anti-Haider slogans.

Later, they converged on the Heldenplatz, or Heroes' Square, where thousands of Austrians welcomed Adolf Hitler in 1938.

Waving Austrian and European flags and hand-painted banners, the protesters voiced their opposition to the coalition government.

Austrian state television estimated an additional one-thousand people continued to stream into the plaza per minute, an hour after the rally began.

Organisers hoped more than a quarter of a (M) million people would attend the rally, making it the country's largest to date.

Overall, the demonstrations were peaceful, with only one reported incident of a small group clashing briefly earlier in the day.

The atmosphere varied from festive in downtown Vienna, where artists decorated the pavements of the city's posh shopping district with anti-Nazi symbols, to that of an earnest political rally outside the parliament.

Anti-government rallies have become a near daily practice since the new government coalition, of the conservative People's Party and Haider's party took office on February 4.

The European Union, Israel and the United States have taken measures to isolate Austria diplomatically.

The outrage stems from Haider's opposition to immigration and rapid EU expansion, as well as previous statements praising some Nazi policies.

He has since apologised.

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