Austrian far-right promises ‘very, very tough asylum policies’

Austria’s far-right interior minister Herbert Kickl has promised “very, very tough asylum policies” after a report showed a 13.7 per cent rise in crimes committed by foreign nationals last year, in particular by asylum seekers.

Since taking office last month, Mr Kickl’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) has proposed interning asylum seekers in camps outside Vienna in response to public concern over immigration. There are also regular reports about asylum seekers and foreign nationals in Austria facing increasing physical attacks and online abuse.

The same crime report for 2016, flagged by the FPÖ for a rise in foreign national criminals, also noted an almost identical rise – 13.6 per cent – in far-right and xenophobic attacks in Austria.

The new year began with one such case, after Austria’s Green Party president, Alexander Van der Bellen, welcomed the first baby born in Vienna in 2018.

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When pictures of Asel Tamga, her father and hijab-wearing mother appeared online, a Facebook page marking the birth as well as internet news comment sections were flooded with Islamophobic comments. One wrote: “I’m hoping for a cot death.” Another: “Deport the scum immediately.”

A third, referring to the new interior minister, added Mr Kickl was “going to send you out of the country. He’s the man to do it.”

Refugee crisis

Real concerns about immigration, shot through with unvarnished xenophobia, have dominated public debate for years in the Alpine republic of eight million, in particular after it found itself on the front line of the refugee crisis of 2015-16.

Austria received 90,000 asylum applications in 2015 but introduced a cap in 2016 and cut the number to below 36,000.

New conservative chancellor Sebstian Kurz, as foreign minister in the last government, closed the main Balkan route used by asylum seekers and human traffickers.

He won Austria’s federal election last October promising a tough line on immigration and asylum, and tackling crimes committed by foreign nationals.

According to an official crime report for 2016, non-Austrians were responsible for 40 per cent of the 500,000 crimes registered in 2016, although they comprise just 15 per cent of the population.

“A restrictive asylum policy is necessary,” Mr Kickl told Austrian public broadcaster ORF. “That means preventing, where possible, a large mass of people coming into our country in an uncontrolled way.”

Urgent measures

Before Christmas, an Austrian police official spoke of a drop in the criminal rate among foreign nationals – except in cyber crime.

As well as plans to intern new arrivals, the FPÖ has proposed confiscating funds and accessing asylum seekers’ mobile phones to find data on their journey to Austria.

FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache has promised a package of “urgent” measures before the summer break, including mandatory X-rays to determine the age of asylum seekers suspected of wrongly claiming to be underage and therefore entitled to greater protection.

Mr Kickl confirmed on Wednesday he had refused entry to a suspected Islamic State terrorist from Georgia for emergency surgery between Christmas and new year. The interior minister said the man, said to be in a coma, was a “great danger for national security”.