At least one killed in suspected Vienna terror attack

By Francois Murphy

 

Police blocks a street near Schwedenplatz square after exchanges of gunfire in Vienna, Austria November 2, 2020. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

 

VIENNA (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and several wounded in central Vienna in exchanges of gunfire late on Monday, in what the Austrian interior minister said was believed to be a terrorist attack near the central synagogue.

 

Vienna police said on Twitter there were multiple suspects and six different locations involved.

 

A large area of central Vienna was cordoned off and police said a significant deployment was under way.

 

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told Austrian broadcaster ORF that the attack was believed to have been carried out by several people and that all six locations were in the immediate vicinity of the street housing the central synagogue.

 

"At the moment I can confirm we believe this is an apparent terror attack," he said.

 

"We believe there are several perpetrators. Unfortunately there are also several injured, probably also dead."

 

A spokesman for the ambulance service said at least one person had been killed and several injured. One of the suspects and a bystander had been shot dead and a police officer was among those injured, local news agency APA said.

 

"Shots fired in the Inner City district - there are persons injured - KEEP AWAY from all public places or public transport," the police said on Twitter.

 

Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said on Twitter that it was not clear whether the Vienna synagogue and adjoining offices had been the target of the attack, and said they were closed at the time.

 

Videos circulated on social media of a gunman running down a cobblestone street shooting and shouting. Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.

 

Vienna police urged people not to share videos and photos via social media. "This jeopardizes police forces as well as the civilian population," they said on Twitter.

 

In 1981, two people were killed and 18 injured during an attack by two Palestinians at the same synagogue. In 1985, a Palestinian extremist group attacked Vienna airport with hand grenades and attack rifles, killing three civilians.

 

In recent years, Austria has been spared the sort of large-scale attacks seen in Paris, Berlin and London.

 

In August, authorities arrested a 31-year-old Syrian refugee suspected of trying to attack a Jewish community leader in the country's second city Graz. The leader was unhurt.

 

(Reporting by Francois Murphy in Vienna and Andrea Shalal in Washington, Writing by Rosalba O'Brien, Editing by Howard Goller and Nick Tattersall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-03

 

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While in Malmo Sweden, the government has stopped an Islamic book fare that was to exhibit and put on sale antisemitic and hate inciting material, Europe is experiencing a resurgence of Islamic terror, why exactly no one knows for sure, where it will strike again and how many casualties again, no one know, and also no one knows how to stop it either...

Inflammatory posts removed.

 

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

While in Malmo Sweden, the government has stopped an Islamic book fare that was to exhibit and put on sale antisemitic and hate inciting material, Europe is experiencing a resurgence of Islamic terror, why exactly no one knows for sure, where it will strike again and how many casualties again, no one know, and also no one knows how to stop it either...

 

What’s the link between the Arab Book fair suspension with Malmo city for a book and the attack perpetrated in Vienna?

human beings................ 

 

lets all come together to fight covid. but wait you insulted my imaginary friend i must behead you now.

 

what ??

 

i saw a protest sign the other day that said freedom of speech does not include insulting islam or allah.

 

YOU BET YOUR BOOTS IT DOES 

 

those who cannot handle such things do not belong in the society they are complaining against. anyone that does not support another's right to make such insults should not be living in said society either. 

 

i thought we were an advanced society with scientific knowledge and logical reasoning.

 

 

The prejudice and judging without information from members is staggering.

The immigration policy with pretty open borders slowly pays off... 

 

But there have been so many problems and killed people already and the EU didn't learn anything. 

 

These actions of the crazed muslim extremistic minority will finally harm the the whole of the muslim community .

By committing these horrible acts they do no favour to all people who believe in their religion .

Anyway , is there any proof that Allah , or God really exists ?

It is all just belief .

Believe it or not ... but belief was what caused people to suffer a lot in the history of mankind .

Get down to the ( proven ) facts .

Astronomy gives a lot of answers ...

9 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

These actions of the crazed muslim extremistic minority will finally harm the the whole of the muslim community .

By committing these horrible acts they do no favour to all people who believe in their religion .

Anyway , is there any proof that Allah , or God really exists ?

It is all just belief .

Believe it or not ... but belief was what caused people to suffer a lot in the history of mankind .

Get down to the ( proven ) facts .

Astronomy gives a lot of answers ...

Yes, get down to the proven facts. Till that time better to not speculate.

1 hour ago, Thorgal said:

 

What’s the link between the Arab Book fair suspension with Malmo city for a book and the attack perpetrated in Vienna?

 

I’ll take a wild guess, Muslims?

1 hour ago, mr mr said:

human beings................ 

 

lets all come together to fight covid. but wait you insulted my imaginary friend i must behead you now.

 

what ??

 

i saw a protest sign the other day that said freedom of speech does not include insulting islam or allah.

 

YOU BET YOUR BOOTS IT DOES 

 

those who cannot handle such things do not belong in the society they are complaining against. anyone that does not support another's right to make such insults should not be living in said society either. 

 

i thought we were an advanced society with scientific knowledge and logical reasoning.

 

 

 

The need for free speech should be at its greatest 

 

... here some facts:

 

15 people in hospitals with gunshot wounds, 7 of them 'severly' injured

apparently meanwhile 2 victims dead as well as 1 perpetrator

search is on for 'at least' 1 more perp

 

next scheduled press conference 0600 local, that's 1200 here

 

source: live info, ORF (public broadcaster)

 

0300 local: 2nd deceased victim confirmed 

 

1 hour ago, Thorgal said:

 

What’s the link between the Arab Book fair suspension with Malmo city for a book and the attack perpetrated in Vienna?

 cancel culture

Refugees welcome. Open the borders and celebrate the diversity.

27 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

Get down to the ( proven ) facts .

 

That would be nice for a change.

 

27 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

Astronomy gives a lot of answers ...

 

Well so much for that idea 

3 minutes ago, 4737 Carlin said:

Refugees welcome. Open the borders and celebrate the diversity.

 

Indeed. It's shameful how bigots and Islamophobes exploit tragedies like this.  

2 hours ago, Thorgal said:

 

What’s the link between the Arab Book fair suspension with Malmo city for a book and the attack perpetrated in Vienna?

Possibly because they are both about the same subject ?

17 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

 

Indeed. It's shameful how bigots and Islamophobes exploit tragedies like this.  

it's nervous, mental illness symptom or maybe cause - at this point we don't know  

6 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Possibly because they are both about the same subject ?

 

No Jewish people have been harmed in Vienna during/after the attacks. There’s no anti-semite character.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/nov/03/vienna-austria-synagogue-terror-attack-police-live-updates?page=with:block-5fa0a6ec8f08552ebf2c38ea#liveblog-navigation

 

“But Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community Vienna, said the synagogue on Seitenstettengasse and the office building at the same address were already closed at the time of the attack, and it was “unclear” if it was one of the targets of the attack.

 

Deutsch told the Kurier newspaper that no members of Vienna’s Jewish community were among those injured in the attack.”

12 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Possibly because they are both about the same subject ?

Are they? Please share your information.

35 minutes ago, Opl said:

 cancel culture

 

Identity, ethnicity or religious background from the attackers has not yet been confirmed.

 

It’s too early to confirm the network around the attackers who provided them the weapons, logistics and the instructions.

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

While in Malmo Sweden, the government has stopped an Islamic book fare that was to exhibit and put on sale antisemitic and hate inciting material, Europe is experiencing a resurgence of Islamic terror, why exactly no one knows for sure, where it will strike again and how many casualties again, no one know, and also no one knows how to stop it either...

Not true, France has many new laws/regulations now since a week or so..that's why Erdogan is angry with Macron and the Arabs won't buy LV purses anymore..

I would say great! The European countries should all together stop exporting to the Arabs and also tell them to stuff that WC-soccer.

17 minutes ago, 4737 Carlin said:

Refugees welcome. Open the borders and celebrate the diversity.

 

Real refugees are welcome because they are people in desperate need. The problem is wealth fare refugees and people with bad intentions that hides between the real refugees. 

 

Diversity can be great, but only if it's people that want to do good in their new countries. 

 

Those doing the currents attacks are a bunch of cowards that belong in hell no matter what religion or skin color they have. 

Someone here claims that these cruel facts harm Muslims.if you believe it it means that you do not know and have never read the Koran.you and mainstream TV call them terrorists, but Muslims call them fighters for the jihad which is their  holy war against the infidels and they will go to heaven with 17 virgins. and they die as martyrs for mohammed. the problem is not the terrorists. the problem is islam!

22 minutes ago, Cattley said:

Someone here claims that these cruel facts harm Muslims.if you believe it it means that you do not know and have never read the Koran.you and mainstream TV call them terrorists, but Muslims call them fighters for the jihad which is their  holy war against the infidels and they will go to heaven with 17 virgins. and they die as martyrs for mohammed. the problem is not the terrorists. the problem is islam!

It is a matter of reversing the point of view, by transforming the victim into an executioner ... So we are no longer talking about the attacks at all, but about Islamophobia. And the culprit is the host society.
The fight against Islamophobia plays an essential role, since its objective is to victimize a population, by uniting it, around this victimization, in a community that the Islamists want to control.

15 minutes ago, Opl said:

It is a matter of reversing the point of view, by transforming the victim into an executioner ... So we are no longer talking about the attacks at all, but about Islamophobia. And the culprit is the host society.
The fight against Islamophobia plays an essential role, since its objective is to victimize a population, by uniting it, around this victimization, in a community that the Islamist movement wants to control.

Very sensible advice for educated, intelligent and free thinking people.

 

But these are not the attributes of most religious people...so you will be beating a dead horse, so to speak.

29 minutes ago, Opl said:

It is a matter of reversing the point of view, by transforming the victim into an executioner ... So we are no longer talking about the attacks at all, but about Islamophobia. And the culprit is the host society.
The fight against Islamophobia plays an essential role, since its objective is to victimize a population, by uniting it, around this victimization, in a community that the Islamists want to control.

 

I’m not a Muslim, but there’s a silent majority of Muslims disapproving these type of attacks.

 

Again, the word islamophobia is misplaced now at the moment if we don’t know the background of the victims and the attackers.

 

Many similar attacks in the past in EU resulted also in Muslim victims.

 

The captions/subtitles can be set in your own language:

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/nov/03/vienna-austria-synagogue-terror-attack-police-live-updates

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer is speaking nw:

“My thoughts in these difficult hours are with the victims and the relatives. We think of the dead and injured, including one officer on duty,” he says.

“We have experienced an attack from an Islamist terrorist.”

 

Nehammer has confirmed that the attacker who was killed was “heavily armed with an explosive belt, and were his sympathisers”.

4 hours ago, Oldie said:

The immigration policy with pretty open borders slowly pays off... 

 

But there have been so many problems and killed people already and the EU didn't learn anything. 

 

More people than that get killed by random shootings and racist policemen in America with closed borders.

31 minutes ago, Susco said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/nov/03/vienna-austria-synagogue-terror-attack-police-live-updates

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer is speaking nw:

“My thoughts in these difficult hours are with the victims and the relatives. We think of the dead and injured, including one officer on duty,” he says.

“We have experienced an attack from an Islamist terrorist.”

 

Nehammer has confirmed that the attacker who was killed was “heavily armed with an explosive belt, and were his sympathisers”.

In your link I can not find the statement it was an attack from an islamist terrorist. I did see mentioned it was an anti-Semitic attack.

 

Correction, did find it after all.