30 young people rioted in a church in Vienna
30 young people are said to have broken into the Catholic Church of St. Anton von Padua in Vienna-Favoriten on Thursday evening and rioted there.
The boys were screaming and kicking benches, confirmed police spokesman Marco Jammer in a report in the daily newspaper “Kurier”.
As they were walking towards the altar area, the pastor called the police. Thereupon the young people searched the distance. Nobody got hurt. The Archdiocese of Vienna expects a quick clarification.
Young people organized themselves through social media
The “courier” spoke of around 50 people and that investigators from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution assume that the intruders are a group of Turkish young people who had previously organized themselves via social media. Nobody was arrested. The entire incident is said to have been recorded by a surveillance camera, which is now being evaluated.
Archdiocese expects a quick clarification
The Archdiocese of Vienna condemned the attack on the parish church of St. Anton in Vienna-Favoriten and expects a quick clarification and consequences. “The whole thing is a serious matter: Believers have the right to practice their religion undisturbed. This right is one of the pillars of peaceful coexistence and must be protected – especially in Vienna, where religious peace is exemplary,” said Diocesan spokesman Michael Prüller Friday evening opposite Kathpress.
Again and again youth gangs in front of church
Around the church of St. Anton there has been an increased perception of harassment by a youth gang for about two weeks, which has recently escalated, Prüller explained. “Not only the Catholic parish church, but also other institutions in the Grätzl have had bad experiences. We are in good contact with the police in this regard and assume that they will get the problem under control quickly and that there will be appropriate consequences.” Society must find an answer to the rioters in Favoriten. “But first you need clarity about their backgrounds, motives and goals,” said the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vienna.
Politics condemns attacks on church
Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) turned against misunderstood tolerance. “All Christians in Austria must be able to exercise their faith freely and safely! We will resolutely continue the fight against political Islam and will not show any false tolerance here,” wrote Kurz on Twitter.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) condemned the incidents: “We in Austria will never allow our right to exercise our religion to be destroyed and we will protect the Christian community with all our resources,” said Nehammer in the “Kurier”. He had instructed the Director General for Public Security to sensitize all police stations and to monitor the public space more intensively, especially in the hotspot Favoriten.
More police officers on duty
After a group of young people attacked a church in Vienna-Favoriten, 50 police officers were also assigned to monitor and control the Favoriten hotspot. The Interior Ministry announced on Friday evening. In addition, a risk assessment by the protection of the constitution is ongoing and the measures are to be adapted based on this.
Like Interior Minister Nehammer, Integration Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) condemned the attack on the church and welcomed the increased police presence in Favoriten. “Parallel societies are the breeding ground for violence. We have to fight every form of extremism and Islamism right from the start in order to prevent worse,” said Raab.
The attack on a church in Vienna-Favoriten is also “unacceptable and dangerous” for the Green integration spokeswoman Faika El-Nagashi. “We must not allow ourselves to be divided by disintegrative groups. In each of these incidents, our response must be: more cohesion, more cooperation, more democracy, more emancipation, more education, more prevention of violence, more plurality,” El-Nagashi told the APA. The potential for violence and aggression among young people is fueled by jihadist fundamentalism and nationalist rhetoric, said the Green integration spokeswoman.
The deputy FPÖ federal party chairman Manfred Haimbuchner spoke of a “highly reprehensible storm on a church”. For Haimbuchner, this is an “attack on our liberal democracy and our free society as a whole. After such an attack, one cannot simply go back to business.”
