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Sabotage at Hochschwab: FPÖ leader Kickl in the investigators' sights!
Authorities are investigating after sabotage on the “Geheimer Schwob” climbing route in Styria. FPÖ leader Kickl seems affected.
Sabotage at Hochschwab: FPÖ leader Kickl in the investigators' sights!
In Hochschwab, a popular mountain region in Styria, the “Geheimer Schwob” climbing route, which FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl helped develop, was vandalized. Photos showing activists removing the safety anchors with an angle grinder were released over the weekend. These images bore the provocative message: “Chase fascists out of the mountains.” It is suspected that the action is part of a political dispute against Kickl's ideology, such as Austria reported. Alpine police examined the route on Monday and confirmed that the damage was intentional and not caused by natural causes such as falling rocks.
Several authorities, including the Styrian State Police Directorate and the State Office for State Security and Combating Extremism (LSE), are now involved in the investigation. A political background to the incident cannot be ruled out. In a statement, the FPÖ itself took the initiative and submitted a statement of facts in which it spoke of an “incredible act of vandalism” and offered 1,000 euros for relevant information to the police. The Styrian FPÖ club chairman Marco Triller is calling for the perpetrators to be harshly punished, as their act not only caused considerable damage to property, but also endangered the safety of other climbers, they said Small newspaper.
The FPÖ describes the actions as part of left-wing extremist activism and emphasizes that such a threat to other mountain athletes could have consequences. Sebastian Schwaighofer, the FPÖ's spokesman for left-wing extremism, expresses concern about the threat posed by such actions and criticizes the lack of documentation of violent acts in the left-wing extremist spectrum. “The action proves once again the danger, but also the particular viciousness of the left-wing extremist scene,” he explains. With the ongoing investigations, the FPÖ hopes for a clear legal response against those responsible for this incident.