Alarming results

Soko Jugend: 4200 reports, 400 arrests

(Bild: BMI / Alexander TUMA)

Everything used to be better - the criticism that generations of young people hear from their grandparents or parents seems to be confirmed by the alarming interim results of the task force set up at the beginning of March to combat youth crime: around 30,000 checks, almost 400 arrests.

Within four months, 30,000 (!) suspects were checked in public areas throughout Germany. There were 4,200 reports (an average of more than 30 every day), half of them in Vienna's hotspot areas.

One in four offenders under the age of 18
And: more than 1000 - that is one in four - of the criminals recorded by the authorities were under 18 years old. There were also 380 arrests throughout the country, more than 280 of which were also in the federal capital. The offenses range from assault to illegal possession of weapons, drugs and aggravated robbery.

Child and youth crime in the country is exploding. Gang wars in Viennese parks are proof of this.

(Bild: Groh Klemens)

The rule of law is powerless, reports end up in the bin
The age trend in overall crime is also dramatic. The number of crimes committed by young people and children under 14 has doubled in the past ten years. Many of them come from the migrant or refugee milieu. In these cases, the rule of law is powerless. The perpetrators cannot be prosecuted in court and the charges end up in the dustbin, so to speak.

Some things have already been achieved, but much remains to be done. The path we have taken will therefore be continued with all the necessary rigor and consistency.

Innenminister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP)

Debate about the age of criminal responsibility
As reported, the ÖVP therefore wants to lower the age of criminal responsibility to twelve years. Parents are also to be held more accountable and summoned by the police. Attendance is to be mandatory, with sanctions such as fines for violations. Of course, there will be no agreement with the Green coalition partner before the election ...

Zeichen an der Wand

In 1944, courageous Viennese carved the combination of a letter and a number into the wall right next to the giant gate of St. Stephen's Cathedral: O5. The fifth letter of the alphabet is E and so the abbreviation OE was supposed to mean - Austria! Free and peaceful, against terror and war. This O5 is secured with a glass plate and is a protected monument.

Hastily sprayed, sometimes crossed out, we now see a new number in the once liveable Viennese working-class districts of Brigittenau, Favoriten and Meidling: 505. This is the nationalist code of a vigilante group in Syria, now used by rival youth groups at war in the middle of Austria, or as top police officer Franz Ruf explained to the sheer astonishment of the gobsmacked TV viewers: "ethnic groups fighting for supremacy in public space".

Syrians and Afghans against Chechens. Guns, baseball bats, knives and machetes.

The violence is spreading like a cancer. In places with historical names: Jakob Reumann, Vienna's first social democratic mayor, lived in the 10th district, Anton Kummer, legendary priest and pastor, lived in the 20th district. People stabbed and beat each other there. Where the Viennese and guests from all over the world cheerfully and calmly queue around the famous Tichy ice cream dumplings, a "weapons ban zone" is supposed to prevent acts of violence, and a "ban on carrying knives" for the whole of Austria would be "desirable" according to the police.

What's that all about? Don't we live in a functioning constitutional state? Have the rival gangs overridden our existing laws?

Specially hired top lawyers help against convictions and deportations, but it is unclear who pays the fees of the expensive lawyers. The police want even more social work, which we all have to pay for.

This will probably not help the twelve-year-old girl who was abused for months by the "Antons gang" from Favoriten. Nor will it help the Algerian who got in the way of drug smugglers, who then chopped off his legs and arms.

This crisis is the result of completely unregulated mass immigration from war zones thousands of kilometers away from Austria.

O5 at St. Stephen's Cathedral.

505 on the walls of houses in the problem districts.

The signs on the wall are clearly visible.