Austria calls stabbing that killed a minor an "Islamist attack"

BarcelonaThe Austrian government has described this Sunday as an "Islamist attack" yesterday's attack saturday In the attack, a 23-year-old Syrian man stabbed several pedestrians in the street with a knife in the town of Villach, near the border with Italy and Slovenia. A 14-year-old boy died and five other people were injured. Following the attack, Austria's conservative Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced at a press conference on Sunday that mass controls would be carried out without prior reason on asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan, because they must be "closed" and "deported."

The perpetrator of the attack on Saturday had a residence permit and was arrested shortly after the attack thanks to the help of a food delivery man who witnessed the events. Minister Karner said that the attacker had been radicalized through the Internet and had links to the jihadist group Islamic State, although there was no record of him having a police record. In fact, according to the police, the young man swore an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State at the time of his arrest and, by his attitude, seemed to want the officers to shoot him.

Indiscriminate stabbing

The incident occurred on Saturday shortly before 4pm in the centre of Villach, a town of around 58,000 inhabitants 350 kilometres south of Vienna. "The Islamist attacker stabbed innocent people in this town indiscriminately," the minister said. The youngest victim was a 14-year-old teenager, the oldest was 32. A food delivery man witnessed the incident and ran over the attacker with his vehicle immediately after the attack, which prevented him from stabbing more people and made it easier for the police to arrest him.

The Minister of the Interior has announced that, from now on, mass controls will be applied without prior reason to "specific groups", among which he mentioned asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan. According to him, the aim is to guarantee the safety of the inhabitants of Austria. He also said that among the conclusions to be drawn from Saturday's attack is the need to "close down" and "deport" and to act with "determination."

Karner also thanked the security forces, the medical teams and the food delivery man who ran over the attacker for their quick intervention. However, he failed to mention that the delivery man is also of Syrian origin, meaning from the same country as the attacker.

The Islamic Community of Austria (IGGÖ) condemned the attack and said that it "is in total contradiction with the values of the Muslim faith." "The instrumentalization of Islam for extremist purposes distorts our religion and is deliberately used to spread hatred and violence," the organization said in a statement. The Catholic bishopric of Carinthia, the region where the attack took place, warned of the danger of "indiscriminate trials that do not help anyone or solve problems."

Immigration at the center of political debate

Immigration and refugees have long been the focus of political debate in Austria, where the far-right, ultra-nationalist FPÖ party won the election with almost 29% of the vote last September. Herbert Kickl, the party's leader and former interior minister between December 2017 and May 2019, has blamed Saturday's attack on the country's asylum and immigration policy and called for Austria to be transformed into a "fortress".

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) is currently negotiating a government agreement with the social-democratic SPÖ, after contacts with the FPÖ failed last week.

Just three days ago, another attack of an alleged Islamist nature took place in the German city of Munich. A 24-year-old Afghan man ran over dozens of people who were demonstrating in the street, called by the second largest trade union in the country. At least 28 people were injured, of whom two died on Saturday. On this occasion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also reacted in the following way: "This criminal cannot count on any kind of leniency. He must be punished and must leave the country."