There were eight injured people, 20 reports and one arrest on Saturday evening in the course of the riots at rallies in Vienna-Ottakring. The police prevented demonstrators and counter-demonstrators from meeting at the U6 station Josefstädter Straße. Bottles and pyrotechnic objects were thrown. Eight police officers were injured. Several officers suffered a blast trauma from exploding firecrackers. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) condemned the attacks on the police officers in the strongest possible terms.
Another person fell and was taken care of by the rescue team. In addition to an arrest, police reported that there were 20 reports on Sunday on suspicion of attempted resistance against state violence and serious assault.
Yppenplatz occupied
According to the police, around 80 participants had gathered at the subway station around 7 p.m. and were heading towards Yppenplatz. A rally by right-wing extremists had been registered there. At the same time, an undisclosed counter rally was formed with around 600 participants, some of whom were masked. The counter-demonstrators set up road blockades and occupied Yppenplatz to prevent the indicated rally.
The around 80 rally participants therefore withdrew to the subway station. Some counter-demonstrators tried to follow them there. This led to the riots in which a parked car was damaged. The police prevented the opposing groups from clashing. As a result, it also dissolved the road blockades. There were no incidents. At around 9 p.m., the indicated rally was declared over. The participants were escorted to the Alser Straße underground station.
Nehammer: “Completely incomprehensible and unacceptable”
Interior Minister Nehammer condemned the attacks on the police officers and described them as “completely incomprehensible and unacceptable”. The officials guarantee basic rights and a peaceful coexistence – and that “often under difficult conditions in the context of meetings, as was the case once again yesterday,” said Nehammer. “Such behavior and actions by demonstrators, as it was shown yesterday, means trampling democracy.”
Means of de-escalation “to be fruitless“
Criticism also came from Vienna’s police chief Gerhard Pürstl on Sunday. He has no sympathy for “hooded autonomists” who throw bottles and pyrotechnics at police officers. This “reckless behavior” should “in no way” be accepted. The Viennese police will continue to take decisive action against this in the future. From Pürstel’s point of view, “police coercion to keep things under control” was the only means to end the violent attacks by the autonomists. Means of de-escalation have been fruitless.
Police pointed out on Sunday that thrown glass bottles and pyrotechnics posed a significant threat to physical health. Pyrotechnic objects in particular are dangerous, because so-called Bengali torches can cause extremely severe burns at temperatures of up to 2000 degrees Celsius. Attacks with firecrackers can also lead to severe hearing damage.