Vienna marks six years since deadly terror attack
Monday 2nd November 2026 on 17:01 in
Austria
Austria commemorated the victims of the 2020 terror attack in central Vienna on Monday, six years after the shooting. A ceremony and wreath-laying took place at Desider-Friedmann-Platz, a square, ORF reported.
Among those attending were Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig. The Islamist lone attacker killed four people; more than a dozen others suffered gunshot wounds. The 20-year-old was shot dead during the police operation.
Babler said remembrance also carried a responsibility to act. He cited the government’s modernisation of the Crime Victims Act, which he said would bring higher compensation and more support for people facing psychological distress. While no one could undo the suffering, he said, people should not be left alone with the consequences of a crime.
Karner said the attack had led to further developments in police organisation and the domestic intelligence service. State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried called on people to defend the values that unite them, including humanity, solidarity and cohesion.
Ludwig said the events had shown the strength of Vienna’s community and its resolve to confront hatred and terror together. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr said the response to terror and violence must be solidarity and a clear stand against hatred and extremism.
Chancellor Christian Stocker, who was unable to attend because of a trip abroad, said in a statement that a free society could not be taken for granted and had to be defended every day. President Alexander Van der Bellen said in a social media post that people were remembering the victims and those who had risked their lives to protect others, including people still living with physical and psychological consequences.
Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl said the day was for remembering the victims, while arguing that the attack had exposed serious weaknesses in Austria’s response to Islamist extremism that remained unresolved.
The attacker opened fire in Vienna’s Bermuda Triangle district on All Souls’ Day in 2020, shortly before a coronavirus lockdown. Four people were killed, and more than a dozen were wounded.