The number of right-wing extremist crimes in Austria increased further in the first half of 2024.
According to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, 556 incidents were recorded.
In comparison, there were 386 right-wing motivated crimes in the first half of 2023.
The increase can partly be attributed to the recent amendment of the Prohibition Act, as stated by Karner. So far, there have been 504 violations of this new legislation.
Of the “criminal acts with right-wing extremist backgrounds,” 495 were specifically classified as right-wing extremist. Additionally, there were 33 racially motivated crimes, 17 antisemitic incidents, three Islamophobic acts, and another eight classified as “unspecified.” A total of 403 individuals were reported for these offences, comprising 350 men and 53 women.
In the first half of 2024, there were 577 reports of violations of the amended Prohibition Act, with 504 crimes registered.
Notably, 127 of the recorded crimes—over one-fifth—were committed online. Vienna topped the statistics with 136 offences, followed by Upper Austria with 125 and Lower Austria with 78. Schatz also used the statistics to draw a distinction: “Those who want to combat right-wing extremism must prevent any governmental involvement from the FPÖ.”
