Austria Foils Islamist Attack Against Pride Parade

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

VIENNA/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Austria was investigating three suspected Islamists Monday who were detained over allegedly planning to attack the annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade.

The parade, which took place in the capital, Vienna, on Saturday, reportedly attracted more than 300,000 people.

Authorities said the three had sympathized with the extremist Islamic State group and suggested they planned violence against Pride participants.

The head of Austria’s domestic intelligence service said the suspects, aged 14, 17, and 20, were detained before Saturday’s massive Pride parade.

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner from the State Protection and Intelligence Directorate said there was “no danger for the participants of the parade at any time.”

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer thanked the investigators for preventing “a possible Islamist attack in Vienna.”

“This shows once again that we must never give in in the fight against radicals and extremists,” Nehammer said on the social media platform Twitter. “They are a threat to our democracy and security and must be dealt with severely.”

Besides Austria, there are several Pride festivals and parades in Central and Eastern Europe, including in Hungary and Poland, where conservative governments have expressed concern about what they view as LGBTQ+ propaganda.

In Budapest, U.S. ambassador David Pressman opened the month-long Pride festival by criticizing the government’s attitudes towards critics.

He is the first openly gay married U.S. diplomat to serve in Hungary.

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