Some activists who reject COVID-19 vaccines and anti-coronavirus measures are crossing borders to join protests where extremist ideology is being spread, Austria’s new domestic intelligence chief told the AFP news agency, calling the trend “very scary”˳
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner said foreign activists are travelling to Austria – where COVID vaccines will become mandatory next month – to demonstrate and hold “network meetings with their partners, right-wing extremists”˳
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”˳
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˳
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˳
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”˳
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˳
He said the DSN had seen credible threats of violence in Austria, pointing to clashes with the police on the sidelines of protests˳
‘Critical infrastructure’
There are “a lot of people threatening … critical infrastructure at the moment”, including the media, health facilities and politicians, he said˳
The DSN that Haijawi-Pirchner leads replaced the former BVT agency as part of far-reaching intelligence reforms˳
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˳
This, along with the perceived closeness to Moscow of Kickl’s Freedom Party (FPOe), led to reports that other Western agencies were refraining from sharing intelligence with Vienna˳
Haijawi-Pirchner has come to the DSN from a successful police career in the Lower Austria region and emphasises the agency is a fresh start˳
He said he has had a “lot of communication with our partners” in other countries in the last few months˳
The current level of information sharing suggests that some confidence has returned, he says, but “we are fully aware … that this process of rebuilding trust” will take months or years˳
‘Hybrid’ service
The intelligence reform means the DSN is now a “hybrid” service encompassing both intelligence and police work, a structure Haijawi-Pirchner says has been well received among Austria’s allies˳
The shake-up also aimed at addressing what Haijawi-Pirchner said were failures around November 2020’s deadly attack in Vienna, which followed missed warnings about the perpetrator’s activities˳
Haijawi-Pirchner said the reforms have led to better communication between security services˳
“You can never avoid a terrorist attack by 100 percent,” he said˳ But “the DSN is better prepared for such a situation than the BVT”, he added˳
