Normalising Street Violence, Greens 'Thank' Antifa for Kicking Participants After their Protest Ended

Just another day in ever-weirder Austria; also, how is this comment by a leading politician--and Nazi Victim Fund Chair--not against Twitter's 'community rules'?

As a follow-up to the earlier posting, here’s what else happened the other day in Vienna: a small protest of approx. 500 ‘Identitarians’ voiced their concerns over mass immigration.

Here’s some biased reporting from state broadcaster ORF Vienna (30 July 2023; my translation and emphases):

A few hundred participants—including people from abroad—took part in the rally under the motto ‘Remigration’. Anti-fascist groups and counter-demonstrators gathered for a counter-protest. The protest had started moving from Helmut-Zilk-Platz in front of the Albertina shortly after 3 p.m. and had already been prevented from continuing on Josefsplatz by a sit-in blockade by counter-demonstrators. According to the police, the blockade was broken up.

Police Officer Injured by A Thrown Bottle

The rally ended in the Freyung area where, according to the police, some hooded people tried to break through the police barriers, but this was prevented by the use of pepper spray, among other things. A police officer was injured in the face by a bottle thrown at him [presumably by the counter-protesters; as the language is so vague, and as I’m 110% certain that had the bottle been thrown by an ‘identitarian’ protester, the media would tell us so].

In addition, after the end of the rallies, an altercation took place between representatives of the two groups in the area of Wipplingerstrasse. According to the police, several incidents of criminal relevance occurred. A total of 16 charges were filed under the Criminal Code, two under the Prohibition Act, and 27 under administrative law.

ÖVP Chairman Demands FPÖ to Distance Itself From the Group

The state party chair of the Vienna ÖVP, Karl Mahrer, demanded on Sunday that the Freedom Party distance itself from the Identitarians, after functionaries of the FPÖ youth had also taken part in the demonstration: ‘The FPÖ has a problem with right-wing extremist ideas in its own ranks.’ Mahrer said that it was not only the Viennese FPÖ that had to act, but also the federal FPÖ.

For the Freedom Party, General Secretary Christian Hafenecker criticised ‘the massive violence that members of the left-wing extremist Antifa unleashed yesterday against participants of the patriotic demonstration for remigration and against the continued population exchange through illegal mass immigration‘. In addition, Hafenecker said that some comments on social networks had led to ‘left-wing extremist infiltration of some media’.

---

What, Then, Actually Happened?

As far as we can discern—e.g., by looking at the woke’n’Antifa fan outlet Der Standard, whose Muzayen Al-Youssef and Markus Sulzbacher wrote breathlessly about counter-protesters blocking the officially registered march by the ‘Identitarians’ yesterday.

Needless to say, there was a follow-up piece that appeared today, which is an almost verbatim copy of the above piece by ORF Vienna.

Left-Woke Antifa Fanboys and -girls Cheer Street Violence

That account by legacy is, as far as we’re able to tell, factually correct, albeit with one minor omission:

Source.

Markus Sulzbacher—yes, the ‘journo’ working over at Der Standard cited above—tweeted the following (translation by Google, emphasis mine):

Europe-wide, weeks-long mobilization, then 500 right-wing extremists come & after the demo, a part (Militant Department) is beaten off the street by Antifa. That was the demo of the Identitarians in Vienna

And Ms. Birgit Hebein—former Vizebürgermeisterin (the US equivalent function is that of a Lt. Governor) of the State of Vienna—thanked Antifa. For engaging in open street violence vs. political opponents with whom she disagrees.

To make this even more poignant, albeit also extremely stupid, we note, in passing, that Ms. Hebein put the following in her Twitter bio:

Chairwoman of the Nazi Victims' Association KZ-Verband/VdA-Lower Austria.

Surely, everyone who is against the ‘politically correct’ ideas must be, in Colette Schmidt’s infamous wording (note, similarly in passing, that Ms. Schmidt is a co-worker of Mr. Sulzbacher):

Source.

Bottom Lines

We’re treading on very thin ice now.

No protest—however disagreeable—that is officially registered with police must be tolerated. Even unregistered (I hesitate to call it ‘spontaneous’) counter-protests must be tolerated, provided it does not devolve into open violence.

And this occurred, it’s not a singular event, as anyone who’s ever been to, say, Zurich on 1 May for the annual celebration marked by smashed windows and burning dumpsters can attest.

Free speech is the essence of democratic-republican polities; there is a reason why freedom of speech and association rank among the most important of civil liberties.

Personally, I don’t have to agree with, e.g., the Identitarians’ or anyone’s protest, but they have as much a right to protest as anyone else.

What I don’t agree with is open street violence—in this case conducted by Antifa—after the official end of the protest.

Moreover, what I find extremely problematic is that Ms. Hebein and Mr. Sulzbacher openly celebrate Antifa’s illegal street violence in public.

Shame on them.

And if you’re excuse me now, I need to puke.