Police stops Jewish protests: is criticism of fraternities prohibited?

Police stops Jewish protests: is criticism of fraternities prohibited?

Before the Academic Ball 2025 in Vienna, the Jewish Austrian University Students (Jöh) unrolled a haunting protest installation that was directed against the influence of right -wing extremists. This event, which previously ran peacefully, was suddenly disturbed by a massive police operation when an FPÖ politician and co-organizer of the ball, Udo Guggenbichler, who observed protest participants and apparently initiated an advertisement for "contesting". According to Alon Ishay, President of the Jöh, the police were brought to act against Jewish students who only critically focused on the ball called "Nazi Ball". The impression came about that the authority manipulated the resolution paragraphs in order to suppress legitimate political criticism, which also likes Bini Guttmann, the legal representative of the Jöh.

In a dramatic turning point, the demonstration was rapid “shutdown”, while the police carried out the identity assessments of all participants present. Posters that called for the upcoming demonstration at Michaelerplatz were confiscated, which directly questioned the right to freedom of assembly. The commitment itself and the circumstances raise questions of how a politician, against whom he was already determined because of his entanglement in anti -Semitic activities, can use a law that was ultimately intended to protect minorities against Jewish protest.

fraternities in focus

fraternities have an ambivalent place in society, often combined with national conservative ideals and in parts also with right-wing extremists. The origin of these student corporations goes back to the Urburschildren from 1815, the values of which are continued from honor, freedom and fatherland to this day. Critical voices complain that parts of the fraternities propagate a folk and elitist attitude that are also perceived as anti -democratic in a more modern view. This political interdependency means that fraternities are often mentioned in connection with right -wing extremist ideology in the media, as was reaffirmed by the reports on activities in the run -up to the academic ball.