The European Gas Conference (EGC) planned for March 26th to 28th in Vienna has been postponed indefinitely. The reason: The organizers fear protests from NGOs, which in turn spoke out in favor of canceling the conference.
“The venue, local police and our security teams have informed us of planned activities by protest groups that could endanger the well-being of participants at the EGC,” organizers said on Thursday. “Alternative regulations” are currently being examined. NGOs are calling 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 finally canceled. The globalization-critical network Attac and the BlockGas action alliance made similar statements. “Gas companies and their lobbyists obviously don’t want to hear or see anything about democratically legitimate climate protest,” says Amina Guggenbichler from BlockGas. “But the climate crisis will not disappear if fossil companies avoid the protests.”2023 Escalation in protest march in ViennaLast year, a group of demonstrators formed a spontaneous protest march in downtown Vienna. In Johannesgasse, some of the protesters tried to break through a police cordon to get into the cordoned off area around the Marriott conference hotel on Parkring. The executive responded with the widespread use of pepper spray, and batons were also used. The police then temporarily arrested 165 people on suspicion of serious communal violence, resistance to state authority and allegations of serious bodily harm. This February, the Vienna public prosecutor’s office ultimately dropped the mass trial against all accused activists.
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