Coercive acts During the coronavirus pandemic, the NPM was not informed of all the politically controversial demonstrations. Nevertheless, commissions observed two demonstrations against the coronavirus measures of the Federal Government. On the demonstrations in Vienna on 14 May 2020 and 31 October 2020 respectively, the NPM perceived the behaviour of the police force to be de-escalating and proportionate. Demonstrations against coronavirus measures Protest rallies against coronavirus measures increased throughout January 2021. These took place in the form of “walks” on the one hand, and also as “carnival parades”, which were usually peaceful and at least some of the time in compliance with the COVID-19 protective measures. On the other hand, there were major anti-coronavirus rallies directed against the Federal Government, particularly in large towns, at which the police intervened due to non-compliance with the COVID-19 protective measures. Demonstrations against coronavirus measures from January 2021 The Vienna Police Department thus decided at the end of January 2021 to ban rallies. Nevertheless, according to reports from the media thousands of people assembled in Vienna to demonstrate despite the ban. According to the media reports, the police did not disperse the rally immediately and allegedly charged thousands of demonstrators for non-compliance with the protective measures. As a consequence of these events, the AOB received complaints and protests from persons regarding the actions of the police. Persons who were penalised for non-compliance with the protective measures complained that the police had not immediately dispersed the unauthorised rally. Others for their part complained about the dispersal of the rallies and the disproportionate actions of the police. As many of the complaints were based on film material in social media and those reporting them were not personally affected, the AOB requested the Human Rights Advisory Council for a supplemental opinion of its assessment of the police approach from the perspective of the protection of fundamental rights. 2.8.3 Human Rights Advisory Council interviewed again Notification of police operations As already discussed in the NPM Report 2017 (pp. 171 et seq.), a decree from the Federal Ministry of the Interior regulates the obligations to inform the NPM (“Notification Decree”). An important criterion for the assessment of whether an event is reported is the question of whether the police consider this event to be semi-peaceful or unpeaceful in its risk analysis. As agreed, peaceful events are not reported to the NPM. Commissions reported from May 2020 that they were not always informed about demonstrations against coronavirus measures and against racism (“Black lives matter”). 166