FPÖ Federal Councillor in focus

Pork slogan: the judiciary now wants to investigate

Markus Leinfellner, FPÖ Federal Councillor, is facing criticism.

(Bild: FPÖ Steiermark)

In May, Markus Leinfellner from the Styrian FPÖ made the pork slogan, the SPÖ party youth reacted with a complaint. Now the Federal Councillor is facing further consequences: an application to lift his immunity has been submitted to the provincial parliament - the FPÖ is fighting back.

During a discussion event at the BORG Dreierschützengasse in Graz, FPÖ Federal Councillor Markus Leinfellner made a sensitive statement that made him vulnerable. He said that "people who eat pork are less likely to blow themselves up".

Young SPÖ responded to the incident
The young generation of the SPÖ Graz then denounced him. The Islamic Religious Community of Styria also criticized the statement as "offensive" and "dangerous". Leinfellner countered sharply: "We would have liked to have seen similarly outraged reactions - including from the IGGÖ - when two young people from Bruck with an Islamic background wanted to blow up the secondary school there or when a 14-year-old from Graz announced that he wanted to destroy the provincial capital."

The next step in the case has now been taken: on Thursday, the Graz public prosecutor's office submitted an application to the provincial parliament directorate to waive Leinfellner's immunity. Only then could they investigate him. This must now be discussed in parliament.

The FPÖ sees this as an infringement of freedom of expression: "The statement may have been exaggerated, but there was a prompt clarification and apology from Federal Councillor Leinfellner. (...) When it comes to putting the rampant Islamism in its place, you don't hear a peep from the Reds."