wien

11. August 2024

SPÖ debates how to deal with Islamism © APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER

Following the Lower Austrian SPÖ leader Sven Hergovich, the Burgenland state party is also calling for tougher action against Islamism. “We need a national action plan, an effective strategy to combat violent Islamism at its roots,” said the red parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst in a press release on Sunday.

“This requires very strict penalties and new criminal offenses analogous to the prohibition law, as well as more opportunities for the security authorities to permanently dismantle this scene,” Fürst also said. Although there are some criminal law links, these by no means take into account all the dynamics that lead to young people becoming radicalized in Austria. “We have to think about how we can offer such strict penalties in criminal law that they have a deterrent effect, similar to the prohibition law for the right-wing extremist scene. Hate preachers in the real and virtual world must also be stopped and more and better prevention work must be made possible.”

Hergovich had previously called for “a law banning Islamism” on Friday. The debate follows the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts planned for this week in Vienna due to terrorist plans.

In a statement on Sunday, the Interior Ministry referred to the extensive legal provisions currently in place to take action against religiously motivated extremist associations. The criminal offense introduced after the terrorist attack in November 2020 regarding religiously motivated extremist associations makes it possible to take measures at an early stage, it said. Further extensive penal provisions exist when it comes to the transition to terrorist developments. However, the Interior Ministry said that appropriate legal powers for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are necessary to monitor the existing legal regulations and once again called for the possibility of monitoring messenger services.

In Burgenland, too, Fürst’s proposal was criticized. ÖVP regional party chairman Christian Sagartz explained: “The Burgenland SPÖ ignores the fact that extremists are not deterred from carrying out attacks by the severity of the sentence.” The FPÖ sees Fürst in “panic mode.” Its regional party chairman Alexander Petschnig noted in a press release: “It is significant that the Doskozil SPÖ now suddenly wants to jump on the bandwagon of cracking down on Islamism after looking the other way for years and allowing the dangerous development to take its course.” The demands are “nothing more than diversionary tactics to cover up Doskozil’s failures in 2015.”