Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) justified the actions of the authorities in connection with a warning – which has since been lifted – of a risk of terrorist attacks on religious institutions in Vienna. In the course of the past week, a latent risk has crystallized into a more acute danger, he explained today in the ORF “Press Hour”.
It was therefore necessary to take appropriate steps and to sensitize the population. However, the threat of Islamist extremism did not materialize. “But there is still a latent threat,” said Karner. It is therefore important to “keep all eyes and ears open”. One is not an “island of the blessed”.
“Certain tension”
There is always a “certain tension” between the interests of the police and state security on the one hand and the public’s need for information on the other. “That’s why we went out with this information,” said the interior minister.
The fact that there was a threat scenario in connection with Islamist extremism was known from intelligence information. He also informed the Intelligence Committee, a subcommittee of the Interior Committee, in Parliament. According to Karner, the international contacts and networks of the newly founded Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) are now working again without reservation: “We are networked accordingly.”
