After three days of unrest in a row, there is increased vigilance on the part of the executive before left-wing and Kurdish activists rally again.
After it in the past days in Vienna favorites repeatedly to clashes came, there was another rally on Saturday. At 5:30 p.m. Kurdish and left-wing activists gathered at Columbusplatz. So far, the demo has been peaceful and without incidents, the police said, who was watching the action with increased vigilance. Around 450 people took part.
At around 6 p.m. they set off for the Turkish embassy in Vienna-Wieden. One of the banners read: “Freedom for all political prisoners! No kneeling in front of the dictator Erdogan”. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was depicted on it with a Hitler beard. In addition to Antifa flags, YPJ flags were worn, for example. The YPJ are the women’s fighting associations of the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG), an armed Kurdish militia in Syria.
After Kurdish women’s organizations that spoke out against violence against women were attacked by men of Turkish origin at Reumannplatz on Wednesday, Kurdish, Turkish and Austrian left-wing activists – such as Antifa – had sympathized and called for a demonstration for Thursday. There were massive riots after ultra-nationalist Turkish groups provoked the crowd and the police.
There was also demonstration on Friday evening. About 500 demo participants marched from the Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus (EKH), acting as the left center, towards the main station. The police accompanied the demo and tried to prevent a clash with Turkish groups. Despite several injuries, the operation was “successful” from a police perspective, a police spokesman said on Saturday. Attempts to disrupt and a direct encounter of the rival groups could be prevented by several hundred police officers – sometimes using weapons and using physical strength – it was said.
Police officer injured
According to the police, there were three arrests in total, just like the day before. A 34-year-old Austrian citizen had tried out of the Kurdish demonstration to stop an official act by attacking the emergency services. He was temporarily arrested and subsequently released at large. Two other men attacked officers in a chain and were also arrested on site.
Both the Kurdish and left-wing demonstrators, as well as the Turkish counter-demonstrators, including members of the fascist Turkish group “Gray Wolves”, allegedly fired at the police with pyrotechnic articles, bottles and other objects. Five firefighters suffered tinnitus from the bang of a firecracker, a policeman was hit on the shoulder by a bottle and also slightly injured.
For the demonstration on Saturday evening, there is therefore increased attention from the police. On Twitter, Antifa called on the streets again to take part in a “large-scale demonstration against the current aggressions of Turkish nationalist and Islamist groups” at 5:30 p.m. on Columbusplatz.
“Top-class scandal”
Criticism also came from political ranks. After numerous politicians – such as Mayor Michael Ludwig, Karl Interior Minister Nehammer or Green Vice-President Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic – spoke out against extremism on Friday, the FPÖ and ÖVP criticized the Interior Ministry and the red-green city government on Saturday. FPÖ leader Norbert Hofer and Viennese state party leader Dominik Nepp called Nehammer to take action. The demos should be banned and “rioters” cut social benefits.
The ÖVP opposed the red-green city policy: “In parallel, the parallel society that emerged there is completely overflowing in favorites. This is the result of the failed integration policy of red-green”, criticized City Councilor Markus Wölbitsch and security spokesman Karl Mahrer. The demo participation of Vice Mayor Hebein on Friday evening was rated by the two as a “scandal in a class of its own”.
(WHAT / twi)
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