The Repression in Austria starts!
Yesterday some 250 000 people assembled to protest against the new austrian government. Also a few hundred antifascists from other european countries participated, to show their solidarity for the antifascist resistance in Austria. But from the beginning they were faced with a massive repression against them. A lot weren't even allowed to come to Vienna, most were searched, such dangerous items like helmets, sprays and felt-tip pens (!!!) were confiscated. Some of them came to the Ernst Kirchweger Haus (EKH, a formerly squatted house in Vienna) to stay there overnight. At 11am special squads started to control and search everyone, who tried to leave the house, some where also photographed, there were no reasons given for that behaviour. Later the antifascists made it to the meeting point near the "Westbahnhof" (big railway station). But when the demonstration started to move the police tried to prevent the international block from joining the demo. As this didn't work out as they expexted, they started to beat up the antifacists. Some were injured, but no one was arrested at this point. In the end the block could join the demo and no more accidents occured till the end of the big march. The chief of the Austrian police later unintentionally confirmed our view of what happened, as he stated in the news, that there was a "dangerous situation", because "people from the radical left tried to mix with other protestors". We didn't know that in Austria it isn't allowed anymore to march where you want inside of a demonstration.
In the evening some 200 protestor gathered again in front of the Headquarter of the cpnservative OeVP. Some glasses were broken, and the police reacted with another brutal police action. Most protestors where searched, photographed and noted. At least 4 people were arrested, the others were heavily threatened and beaten by the special squad police officers. Even some people, who weren't at all involved in the protests that evening, and just were on their way to the daily discussions in the "Burgtheater" (most famous theatre in Vienna) were searched that way.
Obviously this whole police action was a massive attempt to let things escalate, and by that to criminalize non-social-democratic antifascist resisctance. How far the organizing human-rights groups ("Demokratische Offensive", "SOS Mitmensch") were involved in what happened, has to be clarified. Some days before they stated that they will work together with the police to "isolate" "violent groups", the police later confirmed this cooperation.
