After the university banned Götz Kubitschek from appearing in the building, it took place in front of the door – with a large police presence and the eyes of many opponents. The rally was registered by a police officer who was involved in the Ring of Freedom Students and who is still employed by the Ministry of the Interior, as a response to the query showed. Kubitschek will be back in Vienna on Thursday.
Together with the top candidate for the EU election of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Maximilian Krah, the right-wing extremist German publisher Kubitschek is to take part in a networking meeting at the Austrian regional team in Vienna. “The Ministry of the Interior must ensure that there are no riots and learn from the mistakes. It is important to protect democracy and the rule of law,” said the Green spokeswoman for science and research, Eva Blimlinger, who made the request, to the APA. Krah’s lecture at the Identitarians in Vienna was already planned for December, but was postponed due to illness.
Police officer is currently employed as a clerk
The responsible service authority has examined the matter, the police officer who registered the rally around two months ago is currently being used as a “clerk without official or technical supervision” in the central office of the Ministry of the Interior, according to the answer from Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP ). However, Karner does not answer whether working as a police officer is compatible with “public political engagement in an association that has clear connections to right-wing extremism.”
The rally was accompanied by a march by some Identitarians, including Martin Sellner, several fraternity members, and a numerically superior counter-demonstration. A total of 206 police officers were deployed in connection with the rally on the ramp at the University of Vienna and the counter-demonstration, one of whom was injured “by being knocked over.”
Video shows turmoil
A video of the tumult during the rally also showed how a participant in the rally injured another right-wing extremist in the head with a glass bottle; the attacker was probably Götz Kubitschek’s son. In the request, Karner simply states that the incident was reported and the alleged perpetrator was identified.
In total, one report for resistance to state power, one for attempted serious bodily harm in connection with bodily harm, one report for attempted resistance to state power and one report for bodily harm were submitted to the responsible public prosecutor’s office. There were also four reports of administrative violations. However, no separate statistics were kept, which is why it is not possible to assign the crimes to a “camp”.
Kubitschek and some of his listeners finally left the area around the university on a special Wiener Linien train. A “needs-oriented measure” that was determined on site by the operational commander, as stated in the response to the query. There were no uninvolved passengers on the train, which is why no measures were necessary to protect them, said the Interior Minister. Blimlinger sees it differently: According to witnesses, it was a fully occupied tram that was only converted into a special car during the police operation. Due to the tumultuous scene, uninvolved passengers were unable to remove themselves from the situation.
