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Police officers in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna: Still on alert
Photo:
Herbert Neubauer / dpa
Ümit Vural takes another breath when he steps in to the microphone in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna for the most important address of his life.
The President of the Islamic Faith Community in Austria looks at his audience: the Federal President, the Chancellor, the assembled government.
And the cameramen.
They broadcast the funeral service for the victims of the terrorist attack live in the country this Tuesday evening.
Ümit Vural, late 30s, Kurdish, born in Turkey, will speak to the nation of Austria right away.
He, the Muslim, in the most famous church in the country.
Less than 24 hours after a supporter of the so-called "Islamic State" killed four people and injured 22 people, some seriously.
The Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schönborn invited Vural and representatives of the Jewish, Protestant and Orthodox faith communities to St. Stephen's Cathedral for this joint service.
The Muslim Vural is even said to say an Islamic prayer.
Special units on alert in front of the cathedral
Vural is under pressure.
In this tense situation, one word that could be misunderstood could be enough to spark a wave of hatred against Austria's Muslims.
But this service also gives its representative a unique opportunity: to distance himself and his religion in front of hundreds of thousands of television viewers from Kujtim F., the jihadist with an Austrian and North Macedonian passport.
(Read here how Kujtim F. radicalized himself.)
Armed police officers and members of the Cobra and Wega special commandos stand in front of the cathedral gate.
You're still on the alert.
Only 500 meters north of here, in the so-called "Bermuda Triangle", 20-year-old F. shot an assault rifle at passers-by at around 8 p.m. on Monday evening.
Many of his victims wanted to enjoy freedom again in the popular nightlife district: shortly before the new corona lockdown.
The night curfews from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., which have been in effect in Austria since Tuesday.
At 8:09 p.m., the terrorist was killed by Vega units.
But all night long, the investigators suspect that F. was not alone, that other killers may still be in Vienna.
They advised the Viennese to stay at home if possible after the most devastating terrorist attack that Austria has experienced in 35 years.
The city center is deserted in places
If the terrorist's goal was to create fear and terror, he has done it.
Videos of his murders are circulating on the web, thousands of times.
And the day after, hundreds of Viennese parents don't even let their children go to school.
Shopping streets in the city center are deserted in places, most of the shops are closed: whether Svarovski, Confiserie Heindl, the 197-year-old Lobmeyr glass shop.
Even in the Vienna Woods the kitchen stays cold today.
And on the Naschmarkt, where life is boiling in normal times, dozens of stalls are barricaded.
Corona and terror keep people away.
Vienna is a dreary place on this November Tuesday.
Around the "Bermuda Triangle", where it all happened, there are police officers with bulletproof vests and slung machine guns.
Passers-by are not allowed through.
The investigations into the six crime scenes are still ongoing.
There is a new hypothesis: Could a single perpetrator have done all of this after all?
No evidence of a second perpetrator
Max, in his early 70s, a resident of the cordoned-off zone, slips under the red and white flutter tape into the outside world.
He's going for a walk now, says the pensioner, who doesn't want to give his last name.
He heard the shots that evening, but it was over quickly.
And fear of further attacks?
He didn't.
"That one idiot was shot anyway," he says.
"And if there was no other idiot, then he's long gone."
In the afternoon it becomes more intense: F. probably caused the bloodbath alone.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer announced that the police had received thousands of eyewitness videos.
And the films that have been evaluated so far give "no evidence of a second perpetrator."
"May grief become hope"
Ümit Vural, President of the Islamic Faith Community in Austria
It is a relief for Austria.
But there is still no all-clear: The police will continue to be present in the center of Vienna, says Nehammer, so that there is no repeat or imitation act.
In the evening before the funeral mass begins, armed units stand in line at St. Stephen's Cathedral for the highest politicians and religious representatives.
The Archbishop of Vienna wants to set an example with the common mass of the five faiths: against division, for cohesion.
"The proven unity of the religious community and churches in our country must not and cannot be destroyed," preaches Schönborn.
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The President of the Islamic Faith Community in Austria, Ümit Vural
Photo: Herbert Neubauer / dpa
Shortly afterwards, it's Ümit Vural's turn.
He doesn't preach.
He apologizes.
"I would first like to express my deep dismay," he says, "and condemn this heinous, cowardly act".
At the end he prays to Allah in the Catholic Cathedral: "May grief become hope. May vengeance become mercy. Wa-Allah, make the world a place of secure peace. Amen."
For his audience in church, Vural seems to have found the right words.
Vienna's mayor calls his address "touching".
It remains to be seen whether Austrian citizens will see it that way.
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