Vienna police detain four over Halloween violence and looting calls

Vienna police have identified six people suspected of posting online calls for violence and looting during Halloween, ORF reported. Four suspects, aged 14 to 22, were taken into custody during searches in Vienna and Lower Austria.

The calls, which had circulated on social media for several days, urged people to commit offences including violence and looting luxury shops. Vienna’s State Office for State Protection and Countering Extremism, supported by the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence, is investigating suspected criminal conspiracy and incitement to criminal acts in coordination with the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Police said they had linked the calls to six people whom they consider chiefly responsible for the posts. Searches led to the provisional seizure of several data storage devices, two blank-firing pistols, an airsoft gun, ammunition and a machete.

Four of the six suspects are in custody. A fifth person is being held in a prison over a property offence unrelated to the Halloween investigation. The sixth has been identified and is being sought by police.

The group includes an Austrian citizen and nationals of Iraq, Nigeria and the Russian Federation who hold valid residence permits. Investigators are still examining the suspects’ backgrounds and motives. Initial findings have not indicated an ideological motive.

Police said they would act against calls for criminal offences and public disorder, adding that Halloween was not a time when the law did not apply. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said on Wednesday that police would intervene around Halloween when and where necessary.