Vienna remains a stronghold

Right-wing extremist crimes rise sharply again

(Bild: P. Huber)

A further increase in the number of right-wing extremist crimes has been recorded. In the first half of 2024, 556 offenses were recorded. In comparison: in 2023, 386 right-wing extremist offenses were recorded in the first half of the year.

This is according to a response to a question from Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) to the SPÖ. According to Karner, part of the reason for the increase is the amendment to the Prohibition Act. In the first half of the year, there were 577 reports of violations of this new law. A total of 504 criminal offenses were registered.

SPÖ takes government to task
Despite the influence of the amendment, Sabine Schatz, SPÖ spokesperson for the culture of remembrance, described the development as "dramatic and worrying". In a press statement, Schatz called for action and held the federal government to account: "To date, the turquoise-green government has not launched a national action plan against right-wing extremism despite a decision by the National Council in 2021."

The trend is dramatic and worrying.

Sabine Schatz, SPÖ-Sprecherin für Erinnerungskultur

The majority of those reported are men
Of the "offenses with a right-wing extremist background", 495 were specifically right-wing extremist. 33 offenses were racist, 17 were anti-Semitic, three were Islamophobic and a further eight were "unspecified". 403 people were reported for this, 350 men and 53 women. 

Vienna ahead of Upper and Lower Austria
127 - a good fifth - of the recorded crimes were committed on the internet. Vienna leads the statistics with 136 offences, ahead of Upper Austria with 125 and Lower Austria with 78. For SPÖ spokesperson Schatz, the figures were also a reason to draw a line in the sand: "Anyone who wants to combat right-wing extremism must prevent the FPÖ from joining the government."