Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz came under fire on Thursday after a visit to a small community on the German border resulted in a crowd of locals gathering to meet him, flouting social distancing rules. The visit to Kleinwalsertal in Austria's westernmost province of Vorarlberg on Wednesday was Kurz's first such engagement outside the capital Vienna for weeks and came as the country progressively eases a strict lockdown imposed in mid-March to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. However, public gatherings of more than 10 people are still banned and people are meant to stay at least one metre (three feet) away from those they don't live with. The images from Kleinwalsertal showed a large group around Kurz not practising distancing and with only a handful wearing masks. Kurz was seen greeting people in the crowd, though he did not shake anyone's hand. In a short address, he thanked them for their discipline during the lockdown and reminded them to keep the necessary distance "as much as possible", prompting some laughter. Following criticism of the outing, Kurz's spokesman on Thursday emphasised that the community had been told that it was not a public event but a "work meeting" and been reminded to respect coronavirus safety measures. But opposition parties condemned Kurz's visit, while social media was flooded with criticism. "Can someone explain to me why this corona party is allowed and why masks are worn as necklaces?" tweeted Florian Klenk, chief editor of the left-leaning Der Falter weekly newspaper. Kleinwalsertal is only reachable by road from the adjacent German state of Bavaria and thus had been particularly isolated by the border closures brought in due to the pandemic. Austria and Germany plan to re-open their border next month. The Alpine EU member of nearly nine million people has reported more than 16,000 novel coronavirus infections with more than 600 deaths. More than 14,000 people have recovered. jza/jsk