In Vienna there was either a rampage or a terrorist attack on Monday evening.
The exact background of the act is so far unclear.
The Austrian capital
Vienna became
the site of an attack on Monday evening.
Several
shots were fired
- there appear to be injuries and possibly deaths.
What is known so far and what is still unclear.
Vienna -
Several shots were fired
in
downtown Vienna
on Monday evening
.
A
major police operation is
underway.
According to the police, a perpetrator was shot dead.
Another alleged perpetrator is said to have been arrested.
This was reported by the Austrian news agency
APA
on Monday evening, citing the Ministry of the Interior.
It is currently not known
how many
perpetrators
there are in total.
In addition, the police speak of a total of six crime scenes that were secured.
What we can confirm so far:
* Around 8:00 p.m. shots from the Seitenstettengasse area
* Several perpetrators with long weapons (rifles)
* Currently.
total of 6 crime scenes
* 1 fatality, several seriously injured, including a police officer
* 1 perpetrator shot by police # 0211w
- POLIZEI VIENNA (@LPDWien) November 2, 2020
Interior Minister
Karl Nehammer
(ÖVP) told
ORF
that it was an
"apparent terrorist attack"
.
According to him, there were several injured and probably also dead.
According to a ministry spokeswoman, a police officer was shot and seriously injured in the exchange of fire near Schwedenplatz.
The police also confirm this.
Meanwhile, the
Vienna ambulance service
reports several dead and injured.
“We cannot yet limit this in terms of numbers, we are still in the process of getting an overview,” said the spokesman for the Viennese professional rescue service, Daniel Melcher, of the
APA.
The first shots are said to have been fired around 8 p.m. in
Seitenstettengasse
, in the center of Vienna.
Oskar Deutsch
, President of the Israelite Religious Society in Austria, wrote on Twitter that the synagogue in Seitenstettengasse was closed at the time of the first shots.
He does not know
whether the
city temple
, Vienna's main synagogue, was a target, but he said it was shot in the immediate vicinity.
The background is currently completely unknown.
There are many expressions of solidarity to the Jewish community on Twitter.
+
Heavily armed forces are deployed after the shots in downtown Vienna.
© Ronald Zak / AP / dpa
The
police
patrolled the city with rifles at the ready.
"We are with all possible forces in action," wrote the police on Twitter.
"Please avoid all public places in the city," it said.
Many people in the area fled in panic.
The city center is currently cordoned off on a large scale.
You can also find all current developments in this news ticker.