GENEVA 

There was a significant increase in right-wing extremist offenses in the first half of 2024, according to the Austrian Interior Ministry on Thursday.

The details came in an answer to a parliamentary question by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) that was addressed to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner of the Austrian People's Party (OVP), public broadcaster ORF reported.

Karner said 556 offenses were registered in the first half of 2024. In 2023, there were 386 in the first half of that year.

Of the “offenses with a right-wing extremist background,” 495 were specifically right-wing extremist; 33 racist, 17 antisemitic, three Islamophobic and eight were “unspecific,” as ORF cited from the response.

A total of 403 people were reported to police, including 350 men and 53 women and 127 of the recorded crimes were committed on the internet.

Karner partly justifies the increase with the tightening of a law banning right-wing extremism, which was passed by the government in 2023.

Despite the effects of the tightening, SPO's spokesperson for Culture of Remembrance, Sabine Schatz, criticized the numbers in a statement as “dramatic and worrying.”

“To date, the government consisting of the OVP and the Greens has not launched a national action plan against right-wing extremism despite a resolution by the National Council in 2021,” said Schatz. “Anyone who wants to combat right-wing extremism must prevent the FPO from participating in government.”

The SPO is an extreme right-wing, xenophobic party that is leading the polls ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 29, according to surveys.