Uproar in Austrian parliament after opposition leader labels 21 children as 'criminal' asylum seekers

By Timo Kirez

GENEVA (AA) – A heated debate was seen in the provincial parliament of Burgenland, an eastern Austrian state, when an anti-immigrant opposition leader called 21 children "criminal" asylum seekers and read out their names, saying the children are migrants attending school in Wiener Neustadt, a town in Lower Austria, local media reported.

During a Burgenland parliament session on Friday, right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) leader Johann Tschurtz detailed routes of irregular migrants and an asylum destination, calling for an immediate ban on seeking asylum and the deportation of those already in the country.

The names that the politician read aloud indicate a migrant background.

“This is the class in Wiener Neustadt," Tschurtz said in the parliament right after presenting the list, according to a public broadcaster ORF, adding “If that's all right with you, I have no problem with it. If that's fine with you, then so be it, in any case we say: delinquent asylum seekers should be deported immediately."

The ruling Social Democratic Party (SPO) leader Ewald Schnecker swiftly denounced Tschurtz for using schoolchildren's names and misusing them for political gain.

"Mr. Tschurtz, reading out the names of schoolchildren here is questionable, at least from my point of view," Schnecker replied.

The Green Party leader also criticized the FPO politician's speech.

"This really is a disgusting attempt to misuse children for your own party’s political propaganda. It goes against all the rules of democracy, against data protection, against morality and it borders on incitement," Regina Petrik, leader of the Green Party parliamentary group, was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

The source of Tschurtz's list of names is still unknown, while the principal of the school in question told ORF that the school has nothing to do with it.

The education directorate of the federal state of Lower Austria also stated that the names had not been passed on.

The anti-immigration FPO has repeatedly made headlines in recent years due to its proximity to Nazi ideas.

Earlier in January 2022, one of the party's leading candidates for the municipal council in Waidhofen, Lower Austria, said in an interview that the last book he read was Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

In an interview in January 2023, the Lower Austrian FPO regional leader Udo Landbauer responded to a question on human rights: "I would feel committed to the rights of my fellow countrymen. What is a human right anyway? I differentiate between citizens and non-citizens."