About 20 masked left-wing extremist activists of the group “Alerta Feminista” tried to storm the offices of the leading Austrian online platform oe24 yesterday afternoon in Vienna.
They entered the advertising sales offices of oe24 via the bin room and attacked several female employees there. The left-wing anarchists, who call themselves “Alerta Feminista”, allegedly wanted to protest with their action against the “racist reporting” of oe24.at after the recent murders of women.
They distributed flyers with the following appeal: “You say sexualised violence against FLINTAs – women, lesbians, inter, non-binary and trans people – is imported. We say violence against FLINTAS is the cruel consequence of a sexist society, capitalism and patriarchy.”
During the attack on the oe24 sales office, several female oe24 employees were personally and physically attacked by the hooded anarchists, there were no injuries.
The police were on the scene within a few minutes. The rest of the hooded activists fled from the police and then tried to occupy the Secession on Karlsplatz square.
The activists’ goal of occupying the newsroom or TV studio was not achieved thanks to the police intervention and the resistance of the oe24 staff.
In a first statement, oe24 managing director Niki Fellner clarifies: “We condemn this violent intrusion by hooded extremists on media freedom in the strongest possible terms. We will not let anyone – and certainly not such actions – hinder our critical reporting. oe24 has played a leading role in exposing the miscarriage of justice in the recent murder of women by four Afghans and will not be silenced by any type of action. We particularly condemn the attacks on our female sales staff, who have been terrified by the militants, and demand the strongest possible consequences by the law enforcement.”