Austria's rightward shift puts immigration in crosshairs

VIENNA — 

Picknicking with friends successful the parkland aft prayers astatine a Vienna mosque, Saima Arab, a 20-year-old pedicurist primitively from Afghanistan, is thankful for her freedoms successful Austria.

"We could ne'er bash this successful Afghanistan, ne'er cook, spell out, conscionable beryllium successful nationalist similar this," said Arab, who came to Austria successful 2017. "Home is similar a situation there."

Many Austrians, however, are disquieted astir their country's quality to integrate migrants, particularly Muslims, and their tendency for stricter migration laws was a cardinal contented successful Sunday's predetermination which gave triumph to the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) for the archetypal time.

Both the FPO and the runner-up, the ruling blimpish Austrian People's Party (OVP), ran connected pledges to tighten asylum laws and ace down connected amerciable immigration.

The FPO triumph added to critics' concerns astir the emergence of the acold close successful Europe aft electoral gains successful caller months by the Alternative for Germany and the National Rally successful France.

"Whatever the authorities looks similar aft the election, I'm definite it'll enactment towards toughening up asylum and migration law," Professor Walter Obwexer, an advisor to the authorities connected migration law, said earlier the vote.

Arab, who besides spoke to Reuters successful an interrogation conducted earlier the election, said she did not similar to speech astir authorities but hoped she excessively would ballot successful Austria 1 day.

The fig of radical successful Austria calved overseas oregon whose parents were jumped by much than a 3rd betwixt 2015 and past year, and present relationship for astir 27% of the colonisation of astir 9 million.

Together the FPO and the OVP won implicit 55% of the ballot and 1 of the 2 is astir definite to pb the adjacent government, feeding expectations that Austria, similar neighboring Germany and Hungary, and France, volition follow tougher rules.

Opinion polls showed migration and ostentation were cardinal elector concerns. Such is the interest that Austria is taking successful migrants faster than it tin integrate them that adjacent immoderate Austrians of Muslim root consciousness Austria is stretched.

"I wonderment if the strategy is adjacent to collapse," said Mehmet Ozay, a Turkish-born Austrian FPO supporter, arguing determination were excessively galore asylum seekers not contributing to authorities coffers.

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The FPO has combined its pugnacious speech connected migration with disapproval of Islam.

The contented took halfway signifier past period erstwhile constabulary arrested a teenager with North Macedonian roots connected suspicion of masterminding a failed Islamic State-inspired onslaught connected a Taylor Swift concert successful Vienna.

Running connected the run slogan "Fortress Austria," the FPO promoted "remigration," including returning asylum seekers to their countries of origin, particularly if they neglect to integrate, and limiting asylum rights.

That has unsettled immoderate who consciousness the party, which dropped immoderate of its much polarizing slogans successful the campaign, is demonizing foreigners.

The FPO, which did not reply to a petition for comment, denies this. It says asylum seekers are a drain connected authorities resources, and draws attraction to crimes immoderate of them commit.

"The FPO routinely speech astir refugees and asylum seekers arsenic rapists and thieves and cause dealers," said Hedy, a societal idiosyncratic and Austrian national who arrived arsenic a exile from Afghanistan. He declined to springiness his past name.

"Something precise akin happened to the Jews successful Vienna earlier the Second World War," helium said, adding that the FPO, which wants to prohibition "political Islam," would embolden xenophobes.

The FPO, whose archetypal person was a erstwhile Nazi lawmaker, has sought to region itself from its past, and successful 2019 helped walk a instrumentality allowing foreign descendants of Austrian victims of National Socialism to get Austrian citizenship.

This period FPO person Herbert Kickl called Adolf Hitler the "biggest wide murderer successful quality history," arsenic helium roundly denounced the Nazi dictator's bequest successful a tv debate.

Still, Alon Ishay, caput of the Austrian Association of Jewish Students, said helium saw immoderate parallels betwixt targeting of Jews successful the aboriginal Nazi epoch and attitudes to Muslims now.

"There are rhetorical similarities erstwhile you speech astir deportation, erstwhile you speech astir taking people's citizenship away," helium said, besides speaking earlier Sunday's election.

FPO-backer Ozay disagreed, saying that Muslims specified arsenic himself were escaped to bash arsenic they liked successful Austria.

"If determination were regular attacks by FPO voters I would recognize the fearfulness that things would get adjacent much utmost if Kickl came to power," helium said. "But that's not however it is. It's conscionable fearfulness stirred up by the different parties."