VIENNA, Reuters – More than 40,000 protestors marched through Vienna Saturday in opposition to a lockdown that would make compulsory vaccinations to end the coronavirus pandemic.

The government of Austria, faced with an increase in infection rates, declared last month that it will impose a lockdown in order to prevent further outbreaks.

As people gathered, they carried signs that said: “I will determine for myself”, Make Austria Great Again, and New Elections. This is a nod towards the political turmoil in which three chancellors have been elected within two months.

“I’m here to protest forced vaccinations. “I am pro human rights. The violation of human rights must be stopped,” one protester stated to Reuters Television.

Another said that “We are protecting the children.”

A total of 1,200 police officers were deployed to deal with scattered protests which eventually merged into an organized march on the Ring boulevard.

The police put the protest’s size at more than 40,000. Around 1,500 counterprotests were staged.

Some protestors aimed fireworks at officers, which led to pepper spray being used by police. Police also detained some of the marchers.

This week, a parliamentary committee approved increasing the lockdown’s duration to 20 days. The government claims that this is the maximum length.

Austria, a country of 8.9 million people, has reported https://covid19-dashboard.ages.at/?l=en nearly 1.2 million coronavirus cases and more than 12,000 COVID-19-linked deaths since the pandemic began last year.

Since the lockdown began, new cases started to fall. Protests are allowed under the terms of exception.