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04. 11. 09. - 16:00

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04. 11. 09. - 16:00

SPÖ pensioners' organisation supports protesting students

By William Green

SPÖ Pensioners’ Association chief Karl Blecha said today (Weds) his organisation was "on the side of the young (protesting students) on a non-compromise basis."

He was referring to those students who have occupied buildings at universities around Austria in protest over inadequate facilities, financing and overcrowding.

Blecha warned, however, that students should be careful to avoid "uncontrolled action" that could discredit their rightful demands.

He added that admission to universities - "centres of education and research" - should not be restricted through social or financial measures and said no new student fees should be adopted.

The federal organisation representing lower-level schools in Austria has taken a less supportive position. Its spokeswoman Pia Bauer said students in such schools should not be "instrumentalised" in support of the political goals of the organisers of the school strike called for tomorrow.

She said she could personally understand the reasons for student protests but opposed the occupation of universities. She said change could only occur as the result of negotiation between representatives of the Student Union (ÖH) and People’s Party (ÖVP) Science Minister Johannes Hahn. She called on ÖH to take control of the protest movement and to start talking with Hahn.

The Action Society (AG), which is considered close to the ÖVP, called for an end to the university occupations, saying that issues and demands relevant to student interests had long been pushed into the background.

AG spokesman Samir Al-Mobayyed rejected negotiations with "a rebellious, non-democratically legitimate minority." He deemed student demands that ministers go to the sites of the protests "completely absurd." He called on ÖH to accept its responsibility as university students’ representative.

The teachers’ union and the workers’ council at Vienna University expressed support for the protesting students this morning. Protests, they said, had been only a matter of time.

Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann had reiterated his call for restrictions on admissions to Austrian universities yesterday but said Hahn would have to decide upon them.

Faymann noted the SPÖ supported the re-imposition of student fees but acknowledged the government was split over the issue and said Austria could not accommodate all foreigners who wanted to study at Austrian universities.

Faymann also announced Austria would spend two per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on universities up to 2020.

In response to his remarks, ÖH accused him of "pure cynicism" and claimed he had learned nothing from the protests of the past few weeks.

Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) education spokesman Uwe Scheuch claimed some of the students occupying university buildings had come from Germany.

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