That was the assessment of the Vienna police on Sunday regarding a demonstration by the Identitarian Movement and other right-wing extremist movements, in which a few hundred participants marched through the city center on Saturday afternoon. Hundreds came to the counter-demonstration, and smaller groups of masked people caused riots, according to the police.
As in previous years, the Identitarians had called for a march under the motto “Remigration”, and this time there were counter-events by anti-fascist groups and counter-demonstrators. Several hundred police officers were deployed to prevent a clash between the two sides.
The police’s report on Sunday: Ten people were provisionally arrested for criminal offenses and are accused of resisting state authority. The suspects were the masked men who threw stones and bottles at officers in Fahnengasse. It is still being investigated whether these people will face further charges – for example, for damage to property and serious bodily harm.
In total, 271 people were identified after demonstrators refused to break up a sit-in. 52 people were arrested for violating the assembly law. Three police officers were injured and a police car was damaged in the riots.
The Greens and the SPÖ had already sharply criticized the event in advance and pointed to personal connections between the Identitarians and the FPÖ. “They want nothing less than the end of our pluralistic democratic society,” warned the Greens’ memorial policy spokeswoman, Eva Blimlinger.
