Terrorist attack in Vienna: “The attack is still ongoing, stay at...

foreign countries Terrorist attack in Vienna

“The attack is still ongoing, stay at home”

Stand: 02:45 a.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes

Dhe Seitenstettengasse is a small paved descent from the center down to the quay on the Danube. The synagogue, a few steps further the oldest church in the city, pubs, bars, shops, further down by the river a spacious park. The bars in this corner of Vienna had also filled up on Monday – once before the lockdown, which has been in place since midnight. But then: gunfire, panic and hours of uncertainty about what is going on.

According to eyewitnesses, attackers first opened fire from automatic weapons in front of the synagogue in the center of Vienna. Gunmen are said to have opened fire in other places as well. In total, however, there should have been shootings in six locations.

Initially, there was talk of two dead – including one alleged perpetrator – and 15 injured. But the situation was still confusing after midnight.

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer spoke of several injured and several dead at a nightly press conference. The attackers were armed with assault rifles. An explosives belt was found in a shot attacker. Several people are believed to have been arrested, according to unconfirmed reports.

What Nehammer also announced: At least one perpetrator was still on the run in the early hours of the morning. The Viennese were called on not to leave their apartments and to avoid the city center. Tuesday was given off school in Vienna.

During the night, Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig announced that another victim of the attack had died. Ludwig told the broadcaster ORF that the search for any additional perpetrators was ongoing. The property protection has been strengthened.

In Vienna public life came to a standstill. The center and several streets in the wider area of ​​the city center were cordoned off. People stayed in bars for hours.

At an unspecified location in the city center, the rescue workers also set up a meeting point for the wounded.

The Vienna city center was cordoned off over a large area. Motorists, cyclists and passers-by were asked to leave the city center quickly.

Mariahilfer Strasse, a shopping street that begins on the opposite edge of the center as seen from the synagogue, was also blocked off. Passers-by were also asked to leave the street quickly. Cafes and bars were barricaded.

That night, the authorities said the attack was still going on.

The attackers are likely to have been armed with military equipment. Wild gunfire with automatic weapons could be heard on videos from the city center not far from the synagogue. Security forces were already there. Apparently at least one attacker had run down to the quay in the direction of Schwedenplatz. There, a few hundred meters from the synagogue, there is a subway station, where strong police forces also gathered.

In any case, the police transferred strong police units to the city center. Dormant officials were also asked to mobilize. The Red Cross moved ten ambulances from the surrounding area to Vienna.

The regular patrol duty had already been massively and visibly strengthened during the day. The immediate reason: the lockdown that will apply from midnight and the curfew that will come into force. Last but not least, a series of attacks that were very unusual for Vienna was the reason for the increased security presence.

Only on the Thursday of the previous week around 50 young people stormed a church on the outskirts of Vienna while shouting Allahu-akbar. For two weeks there should have been repeated mobbing around the church. And it was only on Saturday that a man chanted Islamist slogans in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the city center.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz discussed the situation with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen as well as the heads of all parliamentary parties and the Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig in the late evening hours.