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CARNIVAL

Waltzing in the streets marks start of carnival

Thousands of people gathered in Vienna’s 1st district on Tuesday to dance a traditional quadrille to celebrate the start of carnival - or Fasching as it is known in Austria. It marks the beginning of Vienna’s Ball Season with over 450 balls to attend.

Published: 11 November 2014 16:40 CET

Waltzing in the streets marks start of carnival

Merriment in Vienna's Graben. Photo: APA

Karin Lemberger-Dorner, president of Vienna’s dance schools, was delighted to see the crowds. “It’s sensational that we have so many people here today," she said.

The quadrille was danced at 11am, with the help of a few professional dancers, followed by a gallop and a Viennese waltz.

“This is great, you don’t have to pay to join in and people from all other the world are here to find out something about our culture and waltz tradition,” one enthusiastic dancer said.

Dance schools are sure to be busy in the coming months as novices rush to learn some basic steps before attending some of the legendary events such as the Opera or Philharmonic balls in January and February.

Lemberger-Dorner said that the most useful dances to master are the Viennese waltz, the foxtrot, boogie and one of the Latin American dances.

Vienna’s ball season reaches its peak in January and February, so there’s still time to brush up those waltz steps. The season kicks off with the Vienna Red Cross Ball in the Rathaus (City Hall) on November 21st.

On New Year’s Eve, guests can dance their way into the new year in a magnificent setting at the Hofburg Palace.

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Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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