A Syrian asylum seeker, 23, was arrested just after Saturday’s attack in the southern city of Villach, which a fellow Syrian food deliverer stopped by ramming a car into the attacker, according to police.
“I am afraid for my children. I am afraid for those around me. I fear for the future. I fear where this will lead. I am endlessly sad,“ local resident Tanja Planinschek told AFP at the site.
‘Couldn’t let that happen’
A 14-year-old boy died, while five other men -- the oldest 36 year old -- were hurt, including two seriously.
“I saw a person lying on the ground, a man was attacking other passers-by - I didn’t think twice and drove at him,“ the Krone tabloid quoted the deliverer, Alaaeddin Alhalabi, 42, as saying.
The suspect is an asylum seeker with a valid residence permit and no criminal record, according to preliminary information, according to police.
“First, he argued with people in a side street, then he started hitting around him. We first tried to hold him down. Then we saw the knife and backed away,“ another eyewitness, Mahir, 29, told Krone. “It was like a movie. He went after everyone.”
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner was to travel to Villach on Sunday.
Far-right leader Herbert Kickl -- whose party topped September’s national elections for the first time ever -- said he was “appalled” by the attack, calling for “a rigorous clamp-down on asylum”.
Austria hosts a large Syrian refugee population of almost 100,000.
In addition, Austria has stopped family reunifications and sent out at least 2,400 letters to revoke refugee status.
Austria has so far only seen one jihadist attack, in 2020, when a convicted IS sympathiser went on a shooting rampage in downtown Vienna, killing four.
A 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was arrested on suspicion of deliberately driving the car into a trade union demonstration. German police said he may have had Islamist extremist motives for the attack.
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