'Very scary': Austria says anti-vax COVID activists cross borders | News about the coronavirus pandemic

While the DSN is not responsible for foreign intelligence gathering, it has received information pointing to a large number of well-organised activists in Germany and Switzerland, Haijawi-Pirchner told AFP in his first interview with foreign media since his appointment. Haijawi-Pirchner, 41, who took over Austria’s newly-reformed DSN intelligence agency in December, said the radicalisation of some activists and the protests’ increasingly international dimension were “very, very scary for us”. He said the DSN had seen credible threats of violence in Austria, pointing to clashes with the police on the sidelines of protests.

In Austria, tens of thousands have taken to the streets almost every week since the government said COVID vaccines would become mandatory from February 4. From France to the Netherlands to Germany and Belgium, European countries have been rocked by anti-vaccine protests in recent months, as governments clamp down on the unvaccinated.

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Demonstrators hold flags and placards as they gather to protest against the COVID-19 restrictions and the vaccine mandate in front of Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria [File: Lisi Niesner/Reuters] He added that the often right-wing extremists were using the gatherings to spread their ideology, including anti-Semitism, and that “we see a lot of people that are very highly radicalised”.

The BVT’s reputation had been tarnished by a string of what Haijawi-Pirchner discreetly refers to as “incidents” in recent years. These included raids on the BVT ordered by the far-right then-Interior Minister Herbert Kickl in 2018 and embarrassing accusations of Austrian officials leaking information to Russia. The DSN that Haijawi-Pirchner leads replaced the former BVT agency as part of far-reaching intelligence reforms.

There are “a lot of people threatening … critical infrastructure at the moment”, including the media, health facilities and politicians, he said. ‘Critical infrastructure’

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‘Very scary’: Austria says anti-vax COVID activists cross borders | News about the coronavirus pandemic
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