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Austria mulls dissolving far-right movement over Christchurch links
Source: The Guardian
Austria mulls dissolving far-right movement over Christchurch links
Chancellor confirms financial link between Identitarian Movement and attack suspect
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Wed 27 Mar 2019 16.37 GMT
The Austrian government is investigating the possibility of dissolving the far-right Identitarian Movement after it emerged the group had received a large donation from the alleged gunman in the Christchurch mosque attacks.
Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, on Wednesday confirmed there was a financial link between the man accused of killing 50 people at two mosques in the New Zealand city, and the Austrian branch of the far-right movement, which claims to want to protect Europe’s “cultural identity” from Islam.
“Our position is very clear,” said Kurz. “No form of extremism must be allowed to have a place in our society, whether it be radical Islamists or rightwing fanatics.”
The vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, of the far-right Freedom party, the junior coalition partner to Kurz’s conservative Austrian People’s party (ÖVP), added: “Any connection to the brutish murders in Christchurch has to be ruthlessly cleared up.”
Strache has previously shared videos by the Austrian branch of the Identitarian Movement on his Facebook page, and in 2016 appeared to praise the group as “young activists from a non-leftwing civil society”. However, at a press conference on Wednesday Strache insisted: “The Freedom party has nothing to do with the Identitarians.”
-snip-
Chancellor confirms financial link between Identitarian Movement and attack suspect
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Wed 27 Mar 2019 16.37 GMT
The Austrian government is investigating the possibility of dissolving the far-right Identitarian Movement after it emerged the group had received a large donation from the alleged gunman in the Christchurch mosque attacks.
Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, on Wednesday confirmed there was a financial link between the man accused of killing 50 people at two mosques in the New Zealand city, and the Austrian branch of the far-right movement, which claims to want to protect Europe’s “cultural identity” from Islam.
“Our position is very clear,” said Kurz. “No form of extremism must be allowed to have a place in our society, whether it be radical Islamists or rightwing fanatics.”
The vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, of the far-right Freedom party, the junior coalition partner to Kurz’s conservative Austrian People’s party (ÖVP), added: “Any connection to the brutish murders in Christchurch has to be ruthlessly cleared up.”
Strache has previously shared videos by the Austrian branch of the Identitarian Movement on his Facebook page, and in 2016 appeared to praise the group as “young activists from a non-leftwing civil society”. However, at a press conference on Wednesday Strache insisted: “The Freedom party has nothing to do with the Identitarians.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/austria-considers-dissolving-far-right-identitarian-movement-christchurch
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