2023-10-08 17:50:00
After the major attacks by militant Palestinians on Israel, images of a rally on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Strasse circulated on social media, and Palestinian flags were waved at Ballhausplatz. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is monitoring the situation closely, the police said. Pictures of a pro-Palestine rally at Ballhausplatz were also circulating on Twitter (X) on Sunday followingnoon.
As an APA editor observed, there were less than ten people who expressed their solidarity with Palestine at the memorial to those persecuted by the Nazi military justice system. The event was quiet, everyone had a Palestine flag with them, she reported.
“Terrifying and unacceptable”
Vienna’s deputy mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS), for example, described the events as “frightening”. “It is frightening and unacceptable that Hamas’ attacks on Israel are being applauded in Vienna. Our support goes to the Israeli people in this difficult time!” said Wiederkehr on Twitter (X).
“Shame on you! You don’t speak for us people of Arab/Palestinian origin,” wrote SPÖ National Council member Muna Duzdar on the short message service.
FPÖ Mariahilf district party leader Leo Kohlbauer also said he was “horrified and shocked” in a broadcast: “It is unbearable that people in the middle of Mariahilferstrasse openly sympathize with brutal murders, desecrations and kidnappings by Muslims once morest Jews.” FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer demanded that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution deal with “terrorist sympathizers” and that “illegal mass immigration be put to a stop,” since the participants in the rallies apparently largely had an “Arab-Islamic migration background.”
“Don’t move on to the agenda”
ÖVP Vienna boss Karl Mahrer does not want to accept the rallies – “here we cannot go back to the agenda,” he is quoted as saying in a broadcast. The Vienna ÖVP integration spokeswoman Caroline Hungerländer sees a failure of integration in Vienna. The Lower Austrian governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) condemned the flying of Palestinian flags in the federal capital and “all kinds of anti-Semitism”.
“Intervention not necessary”
The police said in response to a request from the APA that the rallies were emotional but peaceful and that intervention was largely not necessary. Gatherings are generally permitted in Austria, and grounds for dissolution are given, for example, if a meeting contravenes criminal law or if holding it endangers public safety or the public welfare. This is being continually examined in the current situation.
In addition to the situation being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, all police forces were also made aware. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is in close contact with European and Israeli security authorities, and increased surveillance of affected facilities in Vienna and throughout Austria has been ordered. The police emphasized that these measures were initiated in the first hours following the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas.
The flags and symbols of Hamas or the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which has now also attacked Israel, are banned in Austria.
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