An Austrian court has sentenced a 24-year-old Syrian Kurd refugee to life in prison for a knife attack that killed a teenage boy and injured five other people in southern Austria. The court found him guilty of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and terrorist offences following the incident in Villach on February 15th, 2025.
Austria
‘Vienna a security risk for all of Europe’ – Austrian police discover weapons cache tied to alleged Hamas terror plot
Austrian authorities, investigating suspected Hamas connections since early October, say they have dismantled a terror plot after uncovering a weapons storage depot in Vienna. In response to the weapons cache being discovered, the anti-immigration Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) stated it was once again an example of multiculturalism failing in the country.
Sharia has arrived in Europe: a new millet system
A Vienna court has ruled that a Sharia-based ruling is legally valid in Austria.
The case began when two Muslim men agreed that their dispute would be resolved by an Islamic arbitration panel. When a disagreement arose, the court ordered one of them to pay €320,000. The man refused, arguing that Sharia law is open to different interpretations and violates Austria’s fundamental values.
Austria Records Highest-Ever Number of Knife Crimes
FPÖ: Asylum seekers are bringing violence and crime with them.
Austria witnessed a record surge in knife-related crime in 2024, with official statistics revealing the highest number of incidents in at least a decade.
According to figures, there were 2,596 reported cases of stabbings or knife threats across the country last year, marking a sharp rise from previous years and fuelling concerns about public safety.
The Austrian capital has emerged as the centre of the crisis. Social democrat-controlled Vienna alone accounted for 1,121 of the incidents, making it by far the most dangerous region for knife attacks.
Syrians in Austria Deliberately Fail German-Language Exams To Stay on Welfare
A new report on Syrian refugees in Austria has ignited political controversy after suggesting that some migrants are deliberately failing the exam after completing German courses to avoid low-paying jobs.
The findings, published in daily Kronen Zeitung and based on the Austrian Labour Market Service’s (AMS) study, have prompted sharp criticism from opposition politicians, particularly the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).
Canada is facing a housing crisis. Could it take a page from Europe?
Slavica Salihbegovic’s family was growing. So she did what anyone living in Vienna would do: She asked the city for a bigger apartment.
“At that time, I was pregnant with my first kid,” she said. “I lived in a two-room apartment … it was an OK building, but it was small for us.”
Salihbegovic went to an online portal, entered her income and requirements, and was ranked alongside thousands of other residents. Soon, she was assigned a new apartment: a three-bedroom unit in a brand-new building, adjacent to Vienna’s Central Station.
We have subsidized housing. My guess is that Austria’s social housing has not been made stronger by diversity.
Report: 10 dead including gunman after school shooting in Graz Austria
Update: Citing police sources, local media reported that the gunman was a 22-year-old former student of the school and was armed with two weapons, a pistol and a shotgun, both legally owned, one of which he turned on himself.
Ex-student shooter was bullied reports say.
h/t PA Cat
Ten dead in Austria school shooting, including suspect, police say
This video is making the rounds on social media, falsely claiming to show the individuals involved in today’s shooting in Graz, Austria.
This footage is from the end of May 2025 and has no connection to the recent events. pic.twitter.com/ep0WHtgllX
— The British Patriot (@TheBritLad) June 10, 2025
Horrible sight: Dead students lined up on stretchers
Another video leaked to AUF1 shows the harrowing scenes of the school shooting. Students filmed lined-up stretchers, some of which, they said, also contained victims of the school massacre.#Graz #School #Austria pic.twitter.com/roN4g8gA3H
— Saddam Hussain (@SaddamShah52) June 10, 2025
Twitter – Graz Austria Shooting
Far right wins Austria election, boosting European rightwing surge
VIENNA (Reuters) -Austrian voters handed a first ever general election victory to the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, vote projections showed, illustrating rising support for hard-right parties in Europe fueled by concern over immigration levels.
The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO held a slim lead in opinion polls for months over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP) in a campaign dominated by immigration and worries about the economy.
Led by the 55-year-old Herbert Kickl, the FPO was projected to secure 29.1% of the vote, ahead of the OVP on 26.2%, and the centre-left Social Democrats on 20.4%, a projection by pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF showed after polls closed.
h/t DS
Afghan national arrested for murder of 3 women in Vienna brothel
… The bodies of three women were found in a building in the central Brigittenau district at around 21:00 local time (20:00 GMT) after a witness called the emergency services.
The suspect, whom police have described as a 27-year-old Afghan national, was found hiding near the brothel with a knife in his hand.
The motive for the killings is currently unclear but the man has been questioned.
They are really trying to bury this.
Islamist ‘Morality Guardians’ Surging in Vienna Schools
Teachers and their union representatives, as well as other groups, have been sounding the alarm over the rise in violence from Islamist students who have appointed themselves ‘moral guardians,’ saying that the situation in schools has worsened since the Hamas massacre of over a thousand Israeli civilians on October 7th. The groups are calling on politicians to pay attention to this growing problem in schools, Kronen Zeitung reports.
Thomas Krebs, who is part of the Union of Compulsory School Teachers in Vienna, has called on Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig to act, saying, “We are increasingly dealing with pupils who bring political or religious extremist attitudes into school and reject and mock our values and our rule of law.”
Jihad in Austria: ‘Christians Must Die’
Two young Muslims living in Austria recently confessed that they would like to “kill Christians” and “restore the caliphate.”
The boys, aged 15 and 16, were put on trial at the Leoben Regional Court on July 16, 2023. They had made plans to massacre as many people as possible during an attack on the middle school attended by the 15-year-old, in Bruck an der Mur, where they both lived.
Spate of Knife Attacks Hits Vienna
Vienna is grappling with a knife crime problem. In the wake of four stabbing attacks over the weekend in the Austrian capital, one of which took the life of an Iranian, FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp has called for a security summit.
On Sunday night, May 8th, in the fourth knife attack in just 48 hours, a 15-year old Syrian national—together with another unidentified assailant—stabbed a 19-year old man who was with his 20-year old girlfriend at the time.
As the couple walked to a bus stop, two young males came towards them, and seemed to follow them. Soon after, the pair started to whistle after the victim and his girlfriend.
On Teaching Muslim Kids in Austria – Tales from the Vienna ’hoods.
The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Up the Down Staircase (1967), Conrack (1974), Stand and Deliver (1988), Lean on Me (1989), Music of the Heart (1999), The Ron Clark Story (2006), The History Boys (2006), Freedom Writers (2007). These and plenty of other movies over the decades have told more or less the same story: idealistic teacher accepts job at tough inner-city high school, struggles to get through to the kids (who have troubled home lives and are indifferent to education), experiences disillusionment and even comes close to quitting, but ultimately succeeds – if only, perhaps, with one or two of the students.
Austria Hiring People to “Hunt Down Vaccine Refusers”
The burden for enforcing the fines unjabbed Austrians will have to pay as part of their punishment will fall to their employers, necessitating a new army of ‘inspectors’ to ensure that process is running smoothly.
Austria: Law amendment foresees up to one year in prison for vaccine critics
The fine for not complying to the vaccine mandate has been reduced to €2000 instead of €7200. That is quite a bit softer, but the new law has a new amendment against vaccination opponents, which the Express reports “is explosive in terms of democratic politics: in future, vaccination critics in Austria will be threatened with one year’s imprisonment.”