Climate protest draws thousands in Vienna after record heat

Thousands of people joined a climate protest in Vienna on Friday, with organisers estimating that about 10,000 took part, ORF reported.

The Austrian branch of Fridays for Future called the demonstration under the slogan “Without climate protection, nothing else matters.” Protests were also planned in six other Austrian state capitals; Lower Austria and Burgenland were the only states without a strike.

In Vienna, demonstrators set off from Praterstern at 2.30 p.m. A closing rally with musical acts was scheduled for 5 p.m. at Maria-Theresien-Platz in central Vienna. Fridays for Future said the protest was intended to express anger over the summer’s climate crisis and called for climate measures to address, among other things, overheated homes, unsafe working conditions and drying crops.

The group called for climate neutrality to be legally enshrined by 2040, a climate plan to be drawn up before the end of 2027 and a halt to all large fossil-fuel projects.

Environmental organisations backed the calls. WWF said the government should invest in climate-friendly transport and natural protections, while Greenpeace called for a shift to domestic renewable energy. Global 2000 warned that data centres use large amounts of water and electricity and called on the government to stop their rapid expansion.