Escalation in the previous year

Gas conference postponed due to fear of protests

In 2023, protests against the gas conference escalated.

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

The European Gas Conference (EGC) planned for March 26-28 in Vienna has been postponed indefinitely. The reason: the organizers fear protest actions by NGOs, which in turn have called for the cancellation of the conference.

"The venue, the local police and our security teams have informed us of planned activities by protest groups that could endanger the well-being of EGC participants," said the organizers on Thursday. They are currently examining "alternative arrangements".

NGOs call for the conference to be canceled
Greenpeace described the reason for the postponement as a "pretext" and warned against "criminalizing legitimate protest". The environmental organization sees the organizer's move as a "success for the climate movement" and is calling for the conference to be cancelled once and for all.

The Attac network, which is critical of globalization, and the BlockGas action alliance expressed similar views. "Gas companies and their lobbyists obviously don't want to see or hear anything about democratically legitimate climate protests," said Amina Guggenbichler from BlockGas. "But the climate crisis won't go away if fossil fuel companies avoid the protests."

2023 Escalation at protest march in Vienna
Last year, a group of demonstrators formed a spontaneous protest march in Vienna's city center. In Johannesgasse, some of the protesters then tried to break through a police cordon to get into the cordoned-off area around the Marriott conference hotel on Parkring. The police responded with the widespread use of pepper spray, and batons were also used.

The police then provisionally arrested 165 people on suspicion of serious collective violence, resisting public authority and grievous bodily harm. This February, the Vienna public prosecutor's office finally dropped the mass proceedings against all the accused activists.