A petition by SOS Mitmensch, which was started following the asylum policy statement by Lower Austria’s FPÖ regional councilor Gottfried Waldhäusl in the direction of schoolgirls in a TV show, found 21,838 supporters. According to a broadcast today, Wednesday, the signatures will be presented to the office of Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP). The human rights organization criticized the “lack of consequences of racism” and the negotiations between the ÖVP and the FPÖ.
With the petition “No racists as integration councilor!” was criticized that despite his statement, Waldhäusl is still responsible for asylum and integration agendas in the state government. That was a “fatal political signal,” the human rights organization said. “The handling of the Waldhäusl case shows how weakly anti-racism is anchored in local politics. There are no clear red lines once morest racism and no negative consequences for racist politicians, which is worrying,” said SOS Mitmensch spokesman Alexander Pollak. In the meantime, the signatures are not just regarding Waldhäusl’s statements, “but also regarding perhaps a final food for thought for Governor Mikl-Leitner as to whether she really wants to go so far as to build a bridge to power for two of the country’s worst political racists.” , said Pollak in relation to FPÖ state party and club chairman Udo Landbauer and Waldhäusl.
The vortex can be traced back to statements by Waldhäusl in the Puls 4 program “Pro und Contra” at the end of January. A student referred to the migration background of herself and people from her class and emphasized that they would not be in Vienna if Waldhäusl’s ideas on the subject of asylum had been implemented. The answer of the liberal: “To the question, if that had already happened, that a lot of people weren’t in school here: then Vienna would still be Vienna.” Mikl-Leitner described the statement as “otherworldly”. The SPÖ issued a request for his resignation.
