13. 02. 12. - 16:13

Youths unite against right-wingers

Hundreds of people took to the streets against fascism and xenophobia in Linz at the weekend.

Police in the Upper Austrian city said that 200 people joined the demonstrations at freezing temperatures on Saturday evening while organisers of the gathering said they counted 1,000 participants.

The Upper Austrian Social Democrats’ (SPÖ) youth and student organisations and other left-wing groups called on citizens to take a stand against the political attitude of people attending the Burschenbundball that night.

The event, a get-together of far-right student fraternities, is organised by Franz Obermayr of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ). The European Parliament member (MEP) caused a stir a few days ago by claiming that there had been a "pogrom atmosphere" outside Hofburg Palace on the night of the Vienna Corporations Ball.

Five police officers and three guests of the Viennese event were injured in altercations with demonstrators ahead and after the ball. Political rivals of the FPÖ harshly criticised the MEP over the comparison with the infamous night in November 1938 when synagogues and Jewish shops were set on fire across the German Third Reich.

More than 100 members of a special police force marched up in Linz on Saturday evening. Police officials said the next day that, apart from a low number of minor occurrences, protesters did not violate laws by becoming violent against officers or guests of the Burschenbundball.

Organisers of the protest also criticised Upper Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) Governor Josef Pühringer for attending the event. They appealed to Pühringer to cancel his attendance due to the various statements following the incidents ahead and after the Corporations Ball in Vienna. Pühringer rejected such appeals. He argued that the governor’s visit was a tradition which should not be broken but made clear he would not attend the Burschenbundball next year if other people at it championed far-right thoughts.

Obermayr is not the only FPÖ member who came under fire for a controversial statement about what happened on the night of last month’s Viennese Corporations Ball. The party’s leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, was widely criticised for comparing the clashes between ball guests, police and protesters with the Reichskristallnacht of 1938. He also wondered whether student fraternity members were the "new Jews". Strache is part of Vandalia, a far-right union which also welcomes young men who did not study at universities.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer decided not to decorate the FPÖ chief with the Golden Badge of Honour with Star. Strache was set to receive the medal for being a part of the city hall and federal parliament for 10 years altogether. Former SPÖ Chancellor Franz Vranitzky told Die Presse a few days later he felt "confirmed" in his long-lasting anti-FPÖ policy by the statements of Strache's and Obermayr's. Vranitzky also said he welcomed his party’s decision to rule out cooperating with the FPÖ in a government due to the party’s policies.