Thousands of Austrians have taken to the streets of three of the country’s cities, in a spillover of protests over the rise of the far right in neighbouring Germany.
Under the slogan “defend democracy”, gatherings organised by a broad alliance of civil society organisations, NGOs, political groups, church communities and trade unions took place in Innsbruck, Salzburg, and in front of the parliament building in Vienna.
The demonstrations follow days of protests in villages, towns and cities across Germany, where more than a million people from a broad cross-section of society turned out over the past two weeks despite the cold weather and a rail strike. They have been demonstrating against the rise of the far right, in particular the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party after its members met the far-right Austrian Martin Sellner to discuss the mass deportation of foreigners and German citizens of foreign origin.
On Thursday, about 500 protesters gathered in Vienna’s city centre at the headquarters of one of Austria’s oldest postwar far-right organisations, Landsmannschaft, which hosted an event with Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s leading candidate for the European elections, and the far-right German publicist Götz Kubitschek, who is a close confidant of Sellner’s.
German authorities are considering whether they can issue a ban to prevent Sellner from entering the country.
The focus of the protests on Friday was on the rise in rightwing extremism, antisemitism and racism. Organisers hoped to form a human chain around the parliament building. Representatives of the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim communities as well as figures from the cultural world were set to attend.
The Austrian Nobel prize-winning author Elfriede Jelinek was expected to be present in Vienna and wrote a message that the German-Austrian actor Mavie Hörbiger was to read to the demonstrators. Politicians were to attend but not speak from the stage.
The demonstrations in Germany and Austria were sparked after revelations came to light this month of a secret lakeside meeting outside Berlin in November where the participants, including elected AfD members of parliament and their aides, neo-Nazis, businesses known to support the far right and members of the arch conservative wing of the CDU/CSU parties, met Sellner.
Central to the meeting were discussions around a “masterplan” for a mass deportation, including the practicalities of putting such a plan into action were the AfD to come to power.
Sellner, who has close connections to the German far right, making frequent visits to Germany – most recently to participate in farmer-led protests against the government – has confirmed his participation at the lakeside event. He has made no secret of his plans to push what he calls a re-migration agenda, and his hope for its acceptance across Europe.
It and similar policies have been discussed by and in circles around Austria’s far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) for years. The AfD, which came into being in 2013, quickly morphing into an anti-immigrant party, has modelled itself on the FPÖ – founded in 1956 – among others.
Sellner and Krah are regular guests at Kubitschek’s Institute for State Policy thinktank in Schnellroda, Saxony-Anhalt, which is under observation by German authorities on suspicion of far-right extremism. Kubitschek is viewed as a figurehead of the so-called Neuen Rechten or New Right in Germany, advising far-right groups, and is seen as a political mentor to the identitarian movement.
Protests in Germany were also expected to continue on Friday night and over the weekend.
• This article was amended on 29 January 2024 because an earlier version was wrong to refer to Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna as the Austria’s three largest cities. The country’s three largest cities by population are Vienna, Graz and Linz. Salzburg is the fourth and Innsbruck the fifth.
