Stocker calls for political Islam ban after 84 Upper Austria cases

Austria’s debate over banning political Islam has intensified after 84 Islamist or jihadist-motivated acts were recorded in Upper Austria last year, ORF reports. Only Vienna recorded more. Chancellor Christian Stocker of the Austrian People’s Party has said political Islam should be banned and called for stronger controls on radicalisation in the name of Islam.

In April 2024, a 17-year-old from the Traunviertel region went on trial in Steyr after announcing in chat messages that he would obtain a weapon for an attack on a synagogue in Vienna. The case is one of many in which perpetrators have invoked Islam.

Upper Austria’s police director, Andreas Pilsl, recently told ORF that the region has a high double-digit number of people considered Islamist threats. He has called for greater powers for police.

Stocker said in an ORF interview that a preacher must not determine policy instead of Parliament. He also said that morality enforcers must not decide in schools what girls wear or how they should behave.

Vienna’s Documentation Centre for Political Islam defines the term as an ideology of rule that seeks to reshape or influence society, culture, the state or politics according to values and norms its advocates regard as Islamic, but which conflict with the principles of a democratic constitutional state and human rights.

Journalist and author Stefan Kaltenbrunner, who has studied radicalised Islamist movements for years, said young people were sometimes recruited through social media. He gave the example of a TikTok preacher who claimed that Muslims must not take part in elections because voting would automatically support or legitimise a constitutional state that suppresses religion or does not allow it to be practised freely.

Sociologist and integration expert Kenan Güngör said prevention was more important than ever to keep children and young people from falling into the hands of extremists. Muslim theologians and communities had a role to play, he said, while ethics classes could also make an important contribution.