In Vienna, according to police, about 8,000 people were demonstrating against academic ball of right fpoe. "Let Nazis not reign" and "FPOe out" stands on ir banners. The feared violent clashes did not come until early evening. The police had 3,000 operational forces and also water cannons on standby.
The ball was long regarded as a networking meeting of European rights, even prominent politicians such as Marine Le Pen or Jörg Haider took part regularly. There were always clashes with leftist demonstrators. Since FPÖ 2013 took over event from Viennese Corporation ring (WKR), merger of "academic National Liberal corporations", and in which name also changed, number of visitors declined. Neverless, event remains controversial. There are still about a lot of fraternities from all over Europe.
In run-up to this year's ball, controversy had caused a scandal about Nazi lyrics in Austrian fraternity "Germania to Wiener Neustadt". Their former vice Udo Bauer is current FPOe top candidate for Landtag election in Lower Austria. The text had glorified Nazi period and called for syntactic. Peasant himself has distanced himself from text.
Vice-chancellor and FPOe chief Heinz-Christian Strache, who participates in academic ball, wanted to remind of event attended by 2,500 guests that anti-Semitism has no place in FPOe. The remembrance of Holocaust is commitment and responsibility in present and future. "Anyone who sees this differently should get up and go. He is not wanted with us, "said Strache still before ball.
Austria's Minister of Justice Josef Moser (ÖVP) has assured full clarification of affair. The processes around book are "absolutely obnoxious" and "unacceptable". Moser guarantees investigation of scandal "to a thousand percent". It must be ruled out that "racism and anti-Semitism still exist in any way in social life". The public prosecutor's Office has already made extensive progress in song affair, Moser said. There have been house searches, on Friday first interrogations took place.
Date Of Update: 27 January 2018, 12:02
