Posted on March 9, 2016

Father Is Hospitalised by ‘Sharia Patrol’ in Austria

Jennifer Newton, Daily Mail, March 7, 2016

Austrians fear parts of Vienna are becoming no-go areas after a father was attacked by a ‘Sharia patrol’ when he told them to stop threatening his wife and daughter for not being correctly dressed.

As various factions of migrants stake claims to territory in the city, it has been reported that the self-styled Sharia patrols have been visiting clubs and bars in the Millennium City area to make sure Chechen women were properly dressed and acting appropriately.

However, when one Austrian man tried to step in to stop the patrol from hassling his Chechen wife and daughter, he ended up being hospitalised.

It came as violence escalated across Vienna at the weekend, with more than 50 young men from the Afghan and Chechen communities clashing in the city centre.

The gang had attacked each other with planks of wood, iron bars and knives. Two of those injured are in intensive care and their condition is described as critical.

Police say that the row–which involved around 40 people from Afghanistan attacking 10 from Chechnya–had centred around a social media row on Facebook.

Six of the alleged asylum seekers from Afghanistan have been arrested. The rest have escaped.

Local couple Thomas and Manuela Sonntagfruh, standing on the bloodstained ground after the carnage at the weekend, said: ‘It is quite common that young people might argue, but something like this just isn’t normal.’

The latest incident follows on from mass punch-ups not only in other parts of Vienna, but also in the cities of Linz, Graz, Sankt Polten and in Salzburg.

It comes as the youths from Chechnya, most of them linked in with various martial arts clubs, attempted to establish territories under their control, said police quoted in local daily Kurier.

Another local who had witnessed the weekend attack in Vienna was Renate Hofstatter, who said: ‘Many residents around here are really worried. Personally I’m really worried if I have to go out on my own.’

Another added: ‘I am a caretaker in the local block of flats, and most of the old people don’t go out at night any longer.’

Meanwhile, last month it was reported how police needed to massively increase their presence in Graz train station in order to chase out bands of asylum seekers that had been rejected from Germany, and had started gathering there.

It comes as Macedonia has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans by migrants in a move backed by Austria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.

An estimated 13,000 to 14,000 people waited at Greece’s border with Macedonia on Monday hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.