Live: Federal Chancellor Kurz on the terrorist attack: “It is a struggle between civilization and barbarism”

The Federal Chancellor arrived at the Federal Chancellery with red, white and red markings on his face, the Austrian flag sporting a black mourning sash. In his speech he spoke of a “dark hour” for Austria, “our world is anything but safe”. This Islamist attack is based on hatred of our democracy and the act will go down in the history of the country as a “tragic night”. That night, not only people were the victims of an attack, “it was an attack on our free society, on all of us,” emphasized Sebastian Kurz. He spoke literally of an outrage and assured that “we will hunt down those responsible with all the means at our disposal” and “we will defend our values ​​with all our strength.” However, Austria will not fall into the trap of extremists who want to divide society, he added. “Our enemy are extremists and terrorists. They have no place in our society.” The Chancellor made it clear that this was not a battle between Christianity and the Muslim religion, it was a battle between civilization and barbarism. “We will fight this fight with all determination.”

Kurz announced a minute of silence across Austria at 12 noon for the victims of the terrorist attack. “We will never forget the victims and together we will defend our fundamental values.”

Federal President: “We will not give up”

Immediately after Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen spoke with the Austrians. In his short statement, he said: “It was life in a liberal democracy.” The federal president made it clear that “we will not give up, we will not let this hatred of Islamist extremists infect us.” He ended his speech with the words: “Long live freedom, long live our Republic of Austria, long live our peaceful Europe.”

Chancellor’s speech to look up

The federal president’s speech to look up

Those: SN