Greens alarmed

Greens: “This violence bears Kickl’s signature”

A Puls24 camera crew was attacked at the FPÖ rally in Vienna on Thursday.(Bild: Krone TV)

On Thursday, a team from the TV station Puls24 was attacked at an FPÖ rally in Vienna-Favoriten. The Greens have now called on "all constructive forces" to take action against this. "This violence bears Herbert Kickl's signature", the party even said.

It is an attack on media freedom, said Secretary General Olga Voglauer. "We have really come to the point where you get a punch in the mouth in Austria if you report on an FPÖ event (...)." The violence in the language of Kickl and his party ultimately leads to violence in action. That "has a system."

Voglauer recalled on Friday that ORF satirist Peter Klien was also put in a headlock at an FPÖ event and that representatives of right-wing media in the EU Parliament are said to have mobbed journalists. Kickl wants to "drive a wedge into society, divide, incite."

A Puls24 camera crew was attacked at the FPÖ rally in Vienna on Thursday.(Bild: Krone TV)

We really have reached the point in Austria where you get punched in the mouth if you report on an FPÖ event.

Olga Voglauer von den Grünen

According to a report by Puls24, one of its teams was attacked by several people on Thursday, including members of the FPÖ party youth and the far-right Identitarians. However, the team had itself been invited by the FPÖ and had attempted to interview participants in the demonstration. They were insulted, shoved and doused with water, it was said. FPÖ functionaries such as Leo Kohlbauer are said to have calmed the angry people down.

FPÖ: cameraman behaved aggressively
The FPÖ, on the other hand, said that the cameraman had been aggressive and had approached the participants of the demonstration to within a few centimeters. Kickl said that the cameraman had been provocative and demanded an apology.

The Vienna police wrote on Platform X that they had arrived shortly after the altercation and were able to calm the situation. "The incident has been reported to the Vienna public prosecutor's office." The police would take consistent action against any form of violence and the Vienna police were "highly experienced" in dealing with demonstrations and rallies, promised Interior Minister Karner.

Here you can see the tweets from the Vienna police on Friday.

"Citizens have the right to know what happens at party events", said the Concordia Press Club. It was good that FPÖ officials had intervened in this case. However, the party must now urgently stop its verbal attacks on journalists "who help to provoke such attacks".

Criticism also came from the SPÖ, the ÖVP and the NEOS. It was going in a direction that filled him with concern, said SPÖ leader Andreas Babler. "Friends of Putin and a free press - that doesn't go together," commented the EU lead candidate of the Pinken party and former editor-in-chief of the Kurier newspaper Helmut Brandstätter. Under Kickl, the FPÖ is becoming "more and more radical", said ÖVP Secretary General Christian Stocker.