A memorial to last month’s radical Islamic terrorist attack in the Austrian capital of Vienna was vandalised by a 56-year-old Turkish woman over the weekend.
The memorial, which is located in the first district of Vienna where the terror attack took place, was vandalised by the woman who kicked candles and flowers that had been left by those mourning the four people killed by Islamic State sympathiser Kujtim Fejzullai on November 2nd.
On Monday morning, the 56-year-old was stopped at Vienna’s airport and when speaking to police, admitted that she had been the one who had vandalised the memorial. Police say that the woman is from Turkey and allegedly suffers mental difficulties, Kronen Zeitung reports.
“A statement of facts has been sent to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office for criminal review,” the police said and added that “administrative criminal proceedings were initiated on suspicion of disturbing public order.”
It was initially unclear whether the vandalism had been due to a strong gust of weather over the weekend, but CCTV footage revealed the woman had purposely attacked the memorial.
Beate Meinl-Reisinger, chairwoman of the libertarian NEOs party took to Twitter on Sunday saying, “Today my father was at the memorial in Seitenstättengasse. Totally devastated, candles crushed. Who does something like that? As a society, we have to stand together!”
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz vowed to fight against political Islam and stated that his government were enacting new laws to make political Islam illegal in Austria.
“In the fight against [extremism], we will create a criminal offence called ‘political Islam’ in order to be able to take action against those who are not terrorists themselves, but who create the breeding ground for it,” Kurz said last month.
As the Austrian government dismantles Islamist groups and radical mosques, some member so f the government have received threats in response. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said that radicals had even threatened his family who were subsequently placed under the care of the elite Cobra police unit.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.