Austrians on Sunday, February 16, placed candles at the site of a knife attack that killed a teenager and injured five people, shaking the Alpine nation after this week's collapse of government formation talks, where immigration and security were key issues.
A 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker was arrested shortly after Saturday's attack in the southern city of Fillah, which was stopped by a food delivery man, also Syrian, who rammed his car into him, police said.
Residents placed candles in front of shops on the street where the attack took place in the center of Villach, a town in the Carinthian region.
"I'm afraid for my children. I'm afraid for those around me. I'm afraid for the future. I'm afraid of where this will lead. I'm infinitely sad," local resident Tanja Planinšek told AFP at the site.
"Not only me, but all of us have been afraid for a long time that something bigger will happen," she said, adding that the country "needs to open its eyes and see who we let in, who we help, who we allow all kinds of freedoms to. If nothing is done, it will be even worse."
'I couldn't let that happen'
On Saturday, a man "randomly" attacked passersby with a knife, police said.
One 14-year-old boy was killed, while five other men – the oldest a 36-year-old – were injured, including two seriously.
A food delivery man, also from Syria, intervened, crashing his car into the attacker, who was slightly injured, police said.
"I saw a person lying on the ground, a man attacking other passers-by - I didn't think twice and flew at him," delivery man Alajdin Alhalabi, 42, was quoted as saying by the tabloid Krone.
"He wanted to go towards the city center, there were children on the street - I couldn't let that happen," he said, adding that he was sorry he couldn't save the 14-year-old.
The suspect is an asylum seeker with a valid residence permit and no criminal record, according to preliminary information, police said.
Police said they could not yet say anything about the motive for the attack, but were checking eyewitness accounts that the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).
"First he was arguing with people in a side street, then he started hitting people around him. At first we tried to hold him back. Then we saw the knife and backed off," another eyewitness, Mahir (29), told Krone. "It was like in a movie. He went after everyone."
'The most serious consequences'
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner was scheduled to travel to Villach on Sunday.
Carinthia Governor Peter Kajzer of the Social Democrats called for the "heaviest consequences" for this "unbelievable crime."
Far-right leader Herbert Kickl – whose party won the most votes in September's national elections for the first time ever – said he was "appalled" by the attack, calling for a "rigorous crackdown on asylum seekers".
Kickl's Freedom Party (FPO) failed this week in government formation talks with the second-placed and incumbent conservatives due to disagreements, among other things, over who would fill sensitive government posts dealing with security.
Austria hosts a large number of Syrian refugees, almost 100.000 of them.
Following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in December, Austria and several European countries have frozen asylum applications from Syrians until they review the situation.
In addition, Austria has stopped family reunions and sent at least 2.400 letters to revoke refugee status.
The Ministry of Interior said it was preparing "an orderly program of repatriation and deportation to Syria."
Austria has only experienced one jihadist attack so far, in 2020, when a convicted IS sympathizer went on a shooting rampage in central Vienna, killing four people.
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