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- European leaders have pledged their support for Austria after a fatal shooting.
- Two people died in Vienna.
- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described the shooting as a “repulsive terrorist attack.”
Two people, including an attacker, were killed in central Vienna on Monday night in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terrorist attack.”
These are the main reactions so far to the shootings, which according to police began around 20:00 (19:00 GMT) and took place in six different locations.
READ | A gunman on the run after a ‘terrorist attack’ in Vienna leaves two dead
Austria
“We are living difficult hours in our republic,” Foreign Minister Kurz said on Twitter.
“Our police will act decisively against the perpetrators of this repulsive terrorist attack. Terrorism will never intimidate us and we will fight this attack with all means.”
France
French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We French share the shock and pain of the Austrian people after the attack in Vienna.
“After France, it is a friendly nation that has been attacked. This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they are dealing with. We will concede nothing,” he tweeted in both French and German.
Germany
The German Foreign Ministry promised not to “give in to the hatred that is supposed to divide our societies.”
“Even if we cannot yet foresee the extent of the terror, our thoughts are with the wounded and victims in these difficult hours,” the ministry wrote on Twitter, calling the news from neighboring Austria “horrifying and disturbing.”
Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said “there was no room for hatred and violence in our common European home”, while his Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio tweeted that “Europe must react.”
I
The head of the EU Council, Charles Michel, said that “Europe strongly condemns this cowardly act that violates life and our human values. My thoughts are with the victims and the people of #Vienna after the horrible attack tonight. We support to Austria “.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that she was “shocked and saddened” and said “her thoughts are with the families of the victims and the Austrian people.”
The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, said he felt “sadness and horror” and the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called it “a cowardly act of violence and hatred”.
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, which is Austria’s neighbor, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he was “horrified by the attack … and I want to express my solidarity with all the people in Austria and with my friend Sebastian Kurz.”
Czech police said they had started random checks at the country’s border with Austria.
“The police are carrying out random checks of vehicles and passengers at the border crossings with Austria as a preventive measure in relation to the terrorist attack in Vienna,” the Czech police tweeted.
Police also said they had stepped up “monitoring of major Jewish facilities in the Czech Republic” in a preventive measure that “reflects developments not only in neighboring Austria.”
Greece
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted that he was “shocked by the horrible attacks in #Vienna” and had offered “full solidarity” from Kurz Athens.
“Our thoughts are with the people of Vienna and the authorities dealing with the situation. Our hearts, with the victims and their loved ones,” added Mitsotakis.
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