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Austrian police announce arrests in connection to the Linz Halloween riots

After 129 interrogations, police in Austria identified three 'leaders' responsible for the protests and violence in the city of Linz over Halloween - there were threats of further riots on New Year's Eve.

Austrian police announce arrests in connection to the Linz Halloween riots
Pictured is the Austrian city of Linz at night. On September 15th, several government buildings in Linz will go dark for 'Earth Night' (Photo by Alain Bonnardeaux on Unsplash)

On Tuesday morning, the Upper Austrian police and the Linz public prosecutor’s office presented further details about the Halloween riots in downtown Linz. 

According to regional police director Andreas Pilsl, after 129 interrogations, “a core of 20 people could be filtered out”. Among them were three “ringleaders”: “a 21-year-old Syrian with asylum status, a 17-year-old North Macedonian and a 19-year-old Spaniard”.

Two people are currently detained, according to the spokeswoman for the Linz public prosecutor’s office, Ulrike Breiteneder. 

“Specifically, the 21-year-old and the 19-year-old. Both are accused of grievous bodily harm and common endangerment.” 

A 17-year-old allegedly responsible for the Tiktok video “Tomorrow Linz will become Athena” – the actual call to participate in the riots – has been charged at large. “At present, however, it cannot be ruled out that further arrests could follow. The investigation is ongoing”, the authorities said.

The Linz Halloween riots

On Halloween evening, October 31st, around 200 took downtown Linz streets on a rampage, damaging storefront windows and attacking unrelated groups of people with stones and even firecrackers. 

One thing that draws attention to the episode – other than the unexpected violence – is that many of the people involved were not Austrian citizens. In a country where immigration is always a contentious issue, this issue was bound to make the headlines.

The other point that ensured the riots would stay in the headlines for a while was how they came to happen. 

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What happened at the Linz Halloween riots? 

According to the authorities, the initial evaluation is that the event was unorganised and the rioters had no clear structure. Instead, it was more likely “a loose gathering of young people who had joined forces via social media”.

Additionally, most of the participants were young men.

The police are still piecing together everything that happened two days after the riots. On social media, there are calls for further rioting (on New Year’s Eve), and xenophobic and racist comments as well, with many blaming asylum seekers and migrants for the events. 

What will happen on New Year’s Eve?

On social media, some young people around Linz had already said they wanted to repeat the riots on New Year’s Eve. A house search in one of the suspects’ homes, the 19-year-old Spanish man, turned up dozens of illegal firework devices. 

The police said they were sufficiently prepared for New Year’s Eve. “The entire standby unit will be on duty,” Landespolizeidirektor Andreas Pilsl noted, “we are relying on overlapping forces.” 

READ ALSO: IN NUMBERS: Who are the asylum seekers trying to settle in Austria?

At present, he said, 1,246 checks had already been carried out on the northern border to prevent explosive devices from being brought in. This would be stepped up by New Year’s Eve, he added. 

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CRIME

Does Austria have a drug problem?

Vienna is among the European capitals with the highest number of drug-related deaths. What is the current situation?

Does Austria have a drug problem?

Police in the Austrian capital, Vienna, this week received a special nasal spray used as an antidote for opioid overdose. It’s now part of the force’s first aid kits, as Austrian media reported.

The spray is used as an antidote for poisoning with opioids such as fentanyl and is part of the standard equipment of US police units. In Austria, the departments specialising in combating drugs will now also receive the spray vials, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed.

Fentanyl is considered to be around 50 times stronger than heroin, and unintentional contact can have serious consequences – including respiratory arrest. “Inhaling large quantities is particularly dangerous,” the ministry said, according to the Der Standard report. However, skin contact can also pose a risk under certain circumstances.

READ ALSO: Is cannabis legal in Austria?

The situation in Austria is different to that in the USA, as Daniel Lichtenegger, Drug Coordinator at the Ministry of the Interior and Head of the Central Office for Combating Drug-Related Crime at the Federal Criminal Police Office, explained to the newspaper. “But of course, we want to be prepared so we don’t lag behind.”

What is the situation in Austria?

In the USA, which is plagued by the opioid crisis, the drug is now the most common cause of death for people between the ages of 18 and 49. Drugs like fentanyl are estimated to kill around 70,000 Americans every year. But what is the situation in Austria?

The latest data from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) reveals the prevalence of drug overdoses across the EU, highlighting the significant role of opioids.

While around 6,400 drug-related deaths were estimated in the EU in 2022, the report notes this figure is likely an underestimation due to incomplete data from several countries.

According to the available data, opioids, often combined with other substances, were the leading cause of drug-induced fatalities in the EU, accounting for over three-quarters of such cases in 2022. This issue is particularly pronounced in Austria, where opioids were implicated in 92 percent of reported drug-related deaths.

The country is only behind Denmark (94 percent) and tied with Bulgaria (92 percent). All other European countries where there is available data have fewer than 90 percent of drug-related deaths connected to opioids. 

READ ALSO: Do foreigners in Austria have to carry ID?

When it comes to drug-related deaths per million people aged 15-64, Austria’s numbers are still worrying, but not the highest in the European Union (plus Norway and Turkey). Here, Ireland has the deadliest drug problem (97 deaths per million people), followed by Estonia (95) and Norway (86). 

Earlier this year, the Health Ministry sounded the alarm in Austria, when it posted a report showing an increase in fatal overdoses and in the proportion of young deaths.  

Around 35,000 to 40,000 people in Austria are addicted to opioids. According to the report, opioid addiction mainly affects men (three quarters), people aged 25 and over (around 90 percent) and those living in urban areas.

As the report shows, almost half of those addicted to opioids live in Vienna, where 101 directly related deaths were recorded in 2021 (Vienna figures for 2022 were not available in the report).

This makes Vienna the leader in a comparison of federal states and has reached a peak since measurements began in 2003. In 2020, 74 people died from drug overdoses in the federal capital.

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