Friday, 25. May 2012

:: Home > General News > Surveillance state worries as Austria debates massacre consequences

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
30	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31	1	2	3

Add your event FREE

Today

Polls

27. 07. 11. - 16:00

Surveillance state worries as Austria debates massacre consequences

An intense discussion has erupted among political leaders in Austria over whether the recent killings in Norway justified stricter anti-terror legislation.

Federal President Heinz Fischer warned from drawing quick conclusions from the incidents in the city centre of Oslo and a nearby lake island last week while the People’s Party (ÖVP) is in favour of more preventive measures.

Fischer argued Austria should not abandon its values and principles due to a criminal act like the killing spree of self-proclaimed anti-Islamism warrior Anders Behring Breivik. The 32-year-old Norwegian man killed at least 76 people in his home country last Friday. The alleged mass murderer was arrested. He admitted the killings but decided to plead not guilty.

"We are and want to remain an open-minded and pluralistic society," the Austrian president and former Social Democratic (SPÖ) president of the federal parliament in Vienna said in a TV interview yesterday evening (Tues). Fischer pointed out he opposed any kind of extremism, xenophobia and racism.

The president warned from creating direct links to interior affairs over the occurrences in Norway. He added everyone should rethink their positions and opinions. In what is considered as criticism of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), he doubted the sensibility of "putting games online which appeal to acts which are not acceptable."

The Styrian branch of the FPÖ – a right-wing party currently in opposition in the federal parliament – presented an internet shooter game called "Moschee ba ba" (Bye, bye mosque) ahead of last year’s election in the province of Styria.

Players had to click on mosques and praying muezzins to make them disappear in the game which was taken offline after the Green Party informed the police and state prosecutors. The FPÖ initially failed to comment on accusations that it produced "Moschee ba ba" before it became evident that a political strategist from Switzerland created it for the party. The FPÖ argued muezzins were not shot in the game. It also said it intended to start a debate over a growing "Islamisation" of Austria.

FPÖ Styria chief Gerhard Kurzmann will be in court later this year over the publication of the computer game. If judges find the right-winger guilty of agitation against ethnic and religious minorities, he could be imprisoned for two years.

Some commentators attempted to create links between the FPÖ’s disputed campaign slogans against Muslims who were unwilling to integrate and the tragedy in Norway. Representatives of the SPÖ-ÖVP coalition did not mention the FPÖ – which is seen ahead in many polls – by its name today. However, board members of both coalition partners suggested a general "disarmament of words."

SPÖ Minister for Women Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek suggested a "more careful choice of words" while ÖVP Integration Issues Councillor Sebastian Kurz claimed: "Agitation in mosques must be condemned in the same way as agitation in beer festival tents."

Kurz claimed stricter interior security laws and increased anti-terror prevention were not a contradiction.

ÖVP chairman and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger suggested taking advantage of all possibilities in the fight against violence and terrorism, while SPÖ State Secretary for Finance Andreas Schieder warned of turning Austria into a surveillance state. Schieder said today Norway’s reaction to Friday’s killings was "admirable." The Scandinavian country’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appealed to his fellow countrymen to remain open-minded, respectful and tolerant. Stoltenberg knew some of Breivik’s victims personally.

Schieder said there was "no alternative" to a free society while Beatrix Karl of the ÖVP called to close juridical gaps in the prosecution of people who approved terroristic acts. The ÖVP justice minister and ÖVP Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner presented a controversial draft bill which would create enforced anti-terror laws only a few weeks ago.

Mikl-Leitner announced last month she agreed with Karl that everyone who incited others to carry out terrorist acts should go to prison. The interior minister said the proposed set of measures meant someone who approved terror attacks in front of at least 30 people would face a prison term of two years. The minister said she was confident the bylaw would come into force next year. The current regulation mentions a group of 150 people as terror-backing people’s audience. Mikl-Leitner also said so-called "preachers of hate" and people who seek participants of terror camps would be imprisoned if the bill got the green light in parliament.

The draft bill was presented a few days after an Austrian convert was arrested after long examinations by an anti-terror police unit at an airport near Vienna. The 25-year-old man is accused of organising trips to Pakistan for people who are willing to take part in the fight of terror organisation al-Qaeda against the United States and other Western countries. Reports had it that the suspect was so busy bringing Austrian Muslims to Pakistan that he was known for "running the main travel office" in Vienna by radical Islamists. The alleged lawbreaker remains in custody after the detention at Vienna International Airport (VIA or VIE). He is also suspected of having planned to steer a passenger plane into the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, Germany.

Mikl-Leitner stressed today Austria was not exposed to any kind of immediate threat although Breivik mentioned his "brothers and sisters in Austria" in a 1,500-page document confiscated by Norwegian police at his estate in the countryside.

Asked to specify her plans for more stringent anti-terror decrees, Mikl-Leitner said domestic intelligence services must be allowed to increase their exchange of information with counterparts abroad. She added that the Austrian police’s department for the protection of the constitution and the fight against terrorism (BVT) was currently trying to find out whether Breivik had been in touch with people residing in Austria. The minister explained experts were also trying to find out if the Norwegian murder suspect cooperated with Austrians when it came to carrying out the crimes he was accused of.

Meanwhile, the head of the Protestant Church in Austria has condemned Breivik’s bid to connect his actions with his religious belief. Lutheran Bishop Michael Bünker told Austrian radio station Ö1: "No criminal act can be justified with religion or belief."

Referring to the Norwegian man’s mentioning of his Christian belief, Bünker said Breivik "recklessly abused religious values."

Austrian Times

Are you on Facebook? Like the Austrian Times on Facebook and win great prizes!

Write your comment to this article here

Tag cloud:
acts Norwegian ndash Minister Ouml religious Leitner parliament President Vienna Breivik Austria killings terror Norway police mention games rsquo Mikl

Latest News

Turks flattened by lone asylum seeker
A furious Nigerian went on the rampage at a refuge for asylum seekers in Leibnitz, attacking several people and damaging property.

Woman bites toddler
A woman who bit a two-year-old tot during a road rage row with her mother is being quizzed by police in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

New Dany Boon comedy to be filmed in Austria
The French film star Dany Boon, one of the highest paid actors in Europe after his hit film "Welcome to the Sticks", is filming in Salzburg.

China meets Hallstatt
After a long time of speculation and anticipation the exact copy of Austrian world heritage village of Hallstatt-Dachstein in China will be unveiled, and there will be real-life Austrians present for the ceremony.

Skier in court after accident
A man from Graz is in court today accused of having inflicted negligent injury upon a five-year-old when skiing in Carinthia last year.

Two fires in Ottakring claim one life
Two fires started on Thursday evening in the Vienna district of Ottakring, one of which claimed a man�s life. Several people were evacuated as a result of the two blazes.

Cows zapped to death by lightning
Four cows were zapped to death after a lightning strike hit the barbed wire fence they were leaning on in Reith im Alpbachtal, Austria.

Wolf babies born in Sch�nbrunn
These cuddly Artic wolf cubs have got every right to look a bit frosty - after they emerged into the world for the first time in the middle of a 27 degree heatwave.

Cleaned Out
A Hungarian cleaning woman who stole tens of thousands of pounds worth of antique jewellery from an Austrian Countess and then sold it for "pocket money" unaware of its real value has been jailed by a court in Austria.

Great expectations for summer tourism season in Vorarlberg
The Vorarlberg tourism industry is currently riding high after a record breaking winter season, and the summer season is expected to follow that same trend.

Jobs in Austria

Popular in Austria

The most popular stories –
last 7 days

	Dune And Busted
	Swastika Shaped Austrian School Rebuilt
	Nazi still honoured in Austria
	20th Vienna Life Ball a fiery success!
	Thieves caught trying to nick F**king Sign