Vienna Academic Ball

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The Vienna Academic Ball has been an annual ball in the Vienna ball season since 2013 and is organized by the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Regional Group Vienna. It is considered to be the successor to the Vienna Corporations Ball (also Ball of the Vienna Corporations Ring or WKR Ball for short ), which was organized annually from 1952 to 2012 by university corporations with a majority beating in color .

Since 2008 there have been annual demonstrations against the ball by various organizations. Among other things, the protests are directed against the organization in the Vienna Hofburg , the increased media coverage of the opponents was triggered by the participation of members of right-wing and extreme right-wing European parties.

Organization and history

Corporation Ball 2002 in the Hofburg

Vienna Corporations Ball (1952–2012)

The Vienna Corporations Ball was organized by the association registered in the Central Register of Associations of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) as the Vienna Corporations Ring, Ball Committee - Association for Customs Maintenance . The WKR Ball took place for the first time on February 4, 1952 in the Vienna Konzerthaus , which at the time was in the British sector . Viktor Hafner, Robert Drachus, Walter Wirth and Karl Bartl are considered the founders of the event. From the 16th ball until 1987, the festival hall wing of the Vienna Hofburg was the venue. Following criticism of the Hofburg operating company, it announced that it would rent its premises to the WKR for the last time in 2012. This was decided at the end of November 2011 by the Vienna Congress Center Hofburg Betriebsgesellschaft mbH , but the ball still had a valid contract for 2012.

Vienna Academic Ball (since 2013)

In order not to lose the Vienna Hofburg as an event location, the organization of the ball in 2012 was taken over by the Vienna Regional Group of the FPÖ and renamed the Vienna Academic Ball . The 1st Vienna Academic Ball took place on February 1, 2013 . When asked whether there was a contradiction in this, the operating company of the Hofburg argued that the Hofburg, as a house of the republic, was open to all parties represented in the Austrian parliament . The Hofburg operating company was criticized because it postponed the agreed date of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences ball for the first academics ball .

The ball has, especially after the change of name and organizer, a significantly lower number of visitors. In 2014, according to the alliance now set an example! 400 ball goers took part, according to the organizer 1,500 to 2,000. In 2015, 1,500 ball visitors were expected.

reception

For a number of years there have been annual demonstrations and severe criticism of the ball, for example by the Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) of the University of Vienna , the Greens , the Greens & Alternative Students (GRAS), or the SPÖ , which among others the participation of high-ranking representatives of right-wing and right-wing extremist European parties. According to the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW), personalities such as Markus Beisicht , Patrik Brinkmann , Filip Dewinter , Alexander Dugin , Matthias Faust , Bruno Gollnisch and the right-wing Catalan politician Enrique Ravello took part in at least one ball between 2009 and 2011 .

The venue of the ball was also criticized by the ÖH; this is one of the most representative state rooms in the republic. The operator Hofburg Vienna, on the other hand, announced that the WKR-Ball was a ball with a long tradition at the venue and that it was under the patronage of the official political representatives of the republic. In December 2011, however, she changed her stance and announced that the Hofburg would no longer be rented for the ball from 2013. This step took place on the basis of an initiative by Casinos Austria , which is co-operating the Hofburg and declaring that they resolutely reject any form of extremism and that they did not want to give a stage to organizations that lacked the necessary distance from relevant ideas.

In connection with the 2012 ball, the WKR was criticized for holding it on January 27, the international Holocaust Remembrance Day. According to the organizer, the ball has been held on the last Friday in January for more than forty years and thus occasionally falls on January 27th, which has been the Holocaust Remembrance Day in Austria since 2005. In 2017, the event therefore only took place on February 3rd.

In January 2012 it became known that the WKR-Ball was listed by UNESCO on an example list of the Vienna Ball , which it had designated as an intangible cultural heritage (IMK) . The Austrian UNESCO Committee then removed the entry Wiener Ball and stated that the sample list was not compiled by her, but by the Contact Committee of the Viennese Nobel and Traditional Balls and that she had overlooked the WKR ball in this list. The Nobel Prize for Literature Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek described the entry of the WKR ball in the list as a "denigration of Austria". On the other hand, FPÖ General Secretary Herbert Kickl spoke of the critics of the WKR Ball of a "boisterous hustle and bustle of self-proclaimed civil society", which has assumed a "completely unbearable degree of unsavory". The Washington Post called on 19 January 2011, the decision of the Austrian UNESCO Committee for the removal of the element Viennese Ball as symbolic of the onset in recent years a critical approach to the Nazis in Austria .

The French politician Marine Le Pen ( Front National ) was criticized in 2012 by the French newspaper Liberation for attending the WKR ball, for having attended a "disgusting ball for nostalgics of the 3rd Reich".

In Austria criticism of the FPÖ club chairman Heinz-Christian Strache was loud after he compared the demonstrations against the ball with the persecution of the Jews . In the time in the picture (ZiB2) of the ORF on January 31, 2012 Strache justified himself that he had "not drawn the comparison directly" and that a private conversation overheard was reproduced "completely wrong and out of context".

Protests against the ball

Demonstration “Set an example now!” Against the WKR-Ball 2012

After the WKR ball had received little public attention, it became known in 2005 that representatives of the extreme right of Europe had regularly been on the guest list. This sparked public protests.

Since 2008 there have been annual demonstrations against the ball , some of which were officially prohibited . The demonstration against the WKR ball developed into the successor to the opera ball demo , with left-wing extremist groups increasingly shifting their protests from the opera ball demo to the WKR demo. According to the Austrian report on the protection of the constitution, around 2013 the academics ball was also a “central protest target of the entire Austrian left-wing extremist scene”. During the demonstrations, there were repeated violent clashes between police officers and demonstrators.

In 2010 the demonstration was prohibited in advance for the first time. At the originally registered rally location, Christian-Broda-Platz near Westbahnhof, around 700 people were surrounded and reported for an administrative violation (violation of the Assembly Act). On the occasion of this demonstration, the Human Rights Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of the Interior made a recommendation on how to deal with so-called “ police cauldrons ” .

When the demonstration was again banned the day before by the police in 2011, a spontaneous demonstration with around 150 participants took place on Stephansplatz that same evening. Shouting slogans against the police, the predominantly black hooded crowd marched through the city center and finally dispersed at the Naschmarkt. The next day, the police gave this spontaneous demonstration, in which dustbins were set on fire and officials were allegedly attacked, as a reason for the demonstration ban from the previous day. Nevertheless, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the day of the ball at various locations in the city (University Campus Vienna, U6 station Alser Straße, Karlsplatz) and took spontaneous routes through the city that could only be partially blocked by the police. Again there were hundreds of advertisements for Kesselungen in Westbahnstraße and Mariahilfer Straße. According to media reports, around 1200 officials were on duty.

In April 2013, the Austrian Constitutional Court (VfGH) ruled that the ban on the anti-WKR demonstration in 2011 was unconstitutional , relying on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), according to which a demonstration should not be prohibited because of possible clashes but the police have to present themselves in the event of a risk of clashes between the two groups in order to guarantee freedom of assembly .

“If the mere fact of a risk of disputes would allow a planned meeting to be prohibited in any case, this would amount to a preventive ban on meetings, which is incompatible with constitutional principles. The authority concerned is to be accused of such a violation in the present case. "

- VfGH

Protests in 2012

The black block forms the top of the demo (here in Mariahilfer Straße , 2012)

In 2012, the demonstration was allowed again for the first time since 2009. There were some organizational changes on the part of the demonstrators. For the first time, two alliances called for the protests - in addition to the traditional NOWKR alliance, the offensive against the right was now on the scene as a new alliance. In addition to Broda-Platz at Westbahnhof as the meeting place for the autonomous nowkr alliance, there was now the University of Vienna as a second starting point for an anti-fascist demonstration. Furthermore, the platform now set an example for the first time ! (which include ÖGB , Austrian Trade Union Youth and Austrian Students' Union , SPÖ , the Greens and the KPÖ , the Evangelical Church A. and HB in Austria and various organizations of the Roman Catholic Church ) in appearance, the speeches on a Organized stage at Heldenplatz. According to the organizers, the number of participants was between 8,000 and 10,000, while the police spoke of 2,500.

In the Herrngasse two buses have been blocked; the police had to escort the visitors from the vehicles in the direction of the ball in order to avoid a clash with the demonstrators. Due to the premature end of the rally on Heldenplatz - the power failed - some participants tried to prevent guests in the city center from attending the ball. A number of people were arrested for criminal offenses. According to the police, they are accused of property damage , bodily harm , resistance to state authority and exposure to explosives. A can-shaped explosive device was found on a suspect. There were also acts of violence by right-wing extremists, skinheads and ball goers. In the course of the events, five police officers, three ball-goers and some demonstrators were injured, including the SPÖ politician Albrecht Konecny .

Protests 2013

Demonstration at Heldenplatz against the Academic Ball (2013)

In 2013, around 3,000 people took part in the demonstrations against the “Academic Ball” that took place on February 1st. More than 1,000 police officers were on duty to protect the almost 1,000 visitors to the ball. Some of the demonstrators blocked access to the Hofburg, a ball-goer was spat in the face, and Andreas Mölzer was thrown a paint bag. The police said in a message that two police officers and two ball guests were slightly injured.

Protests 2014

In 2014 the police banned parts of the city center. A masking ban was imposed in districts 1 to 9 . The legal scholar Bernd-Christian Funk criticized the ban as disproportionate and described it as a “blank slip” for the police. An event planned by the platform Jetzt at Heldenplatz . was forbidden by the police at this location and then canceled by the organizers. The daily newspaper Der Standard saw the barriers to endanger the freedom of the press ; The journalists 'union , the editors' council of Puls 4 and the ORF , as well as the organization Reporters Without Borders unsuccessfully demanded the removal of the restrictions on media reporting.

According to the police, 6,000 mostly peaceful people took part in the demonstrations against the 2014 Academic Ball. The demonstration march of the nowkr alliance starting from Wien Mitte was led by a black bloc of around 100 people , while the offensive against the right (OGR) moved colorfully and unmasked from the University of Vienna to Stephansplatz.

The parts of the city center affected by the ban on parking were cordoned off with more than 2,000 police officers. After the OGR demo on Stephansplatz broke up, however, around 6:30 p.m., a group of several hundred people managed to overrun a police cordon behind the State Opera and thus penetrate the restricted zone. When the police units located on Stephansplatz were withdrawn to the State Opera, the situation escalated. Some demonstrators managed to bypass the sparse police chain and masked people attacked the officers from all sides, whereupon they withdrew to the Haas House. The approximately 2,500 people demonstration of the nowkr train now dispersed in flight, with some rioting across the ditch and Wipplinger Straße towards Schottentor. Police officers fled.

Damaged display at the trench

On digging some shop windows were smashed, Am Hof beat rioters with torn construction site road signs the discs of the police station one. A radio car of the ORF , eleven vehicles used Vienna Police and some private cars were damaged. Windows of an OPEC and EU branch were smashed in Wipplinger Strasse. There were several arrests.

A large-scale sit-down was held behind the Burgtheater, as was the case on Karl-Renner-Ring, where at times up to 2,000 demonstrators were gathered. In both places there were clashes, baton and pepper spray use, injured police officers and demonstrators. The Standard reported that one of its photographers was attacked by the police. The Academy of Fine Arts , which was holding an open day , was surrounded by the police, as they suspected 50 demonstrators they were pursuing in the building. The Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) sharply criticized the action, the Rector Eva Blimlinger spoke of a scandal and demanded an apology from the police.

While the property damage was estimated by the police at over a million euros the day after, the public prosecutor's office assumed a total damage of 500,000 euros two months later. The police operation to secure the ball is said to have cost around one million euros. The German Josef S. from Jena who took part in the demonstration was sentenced to one year of partial imprisonment on July 22, 2014, among other things for violating the peace . Another demonstrator, Hüseyin S., was acquitted on August 18, 2014, but sentenced to six months' conditional imprisonment for aggravated assault . The defendant immediately waived, and the public prosecutor a few days later, to appeal against the judgment, which thus became final.

Protests in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

The demonstration against the 2018 Academic Ball at the Ring

There were also protests against the ball in 2015 and 2016, with the NOWKR disbanding after its demonstration was prohibited in 2015. The initiatives set an example now! and Offensive Against Right organized rallies and demonstrations, which, according to the organizers, attracted more than 8,000 participants and were largely peaceful.

The demonstration was peaceful again in 2017 and significantly fewer demonstrators took part in the protest rallies than in previous years. According to the police, there were 2,800 people faced with roughly the same number of police forces. The satirical fraternity Hysteria succeeded in spreading a banner on the ball and declared it the "Hysteria Ball".

In 2018 the offensive against the right and other organizations called for a demonstration. Around 8,000 to 10,000 participants protested peacefully, almost 3,000 police officers were on duty. There were fewer participants in 2019 than in previous years. According to the police, around 1,600 demonstrators took part in the final rally on Stephansplatz.

Artistic arrangements

On January 27, 2014 the Viennese band 5 / 8erl released a song in Ehr'n with the title Akademikerball via Soundcloud .

The academics ball and police violence are also the themes of the song Jag mich durch die Straßen , which the Austrian band Skatapult presented on YouTube in September 2015 . The song made it into the top 25 of the 2016 FM4 protest song contest .

literature

  • N / A: Wiener Akademiker Ball , in: Federal Ministry of the Interior (Ed.): Verfassungsschutz Report 2014 . Pp. 58-62 ( online ).
  • Judith Goetz: Dance out! A critical assessment of the protests against the WKR ball. In: Research Group Ideologies and Politics of Inequality (Ed.): Right-wing extremism. Developments and Analyzes, Volume 1. Mandelbaum, Vienna 2014, 200–224.

Web links

Commons : Wiener Akademikerball  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Query in the Central Register of Associations on February 16, 2011.
  2. ^ Wiener Korporations-Ball: About the WKR ( Memento of April 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b Last corporation ball in the Hofburg . In: ORF . December 1, 2011.
  4. ↑ WKR-Ball 2012 for the last time in the Hofburg . In: The Standard . December 1, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b Hofburg Vienna: Vienna Corporation Ball 2012 for the last time in the Hofburg Vienna . December 1, 2011.
  6. ↑ Sebastian Pumberger: WKR Ball successor also in 2013 in the Hofburg . In: The Standard . March 9, 2012.
  7. ^ Corinna Milborn : Boku-Ball must give way to FPÖ . In: News . March 15, 2012.
  8. ↑ Judith Goetz: Punched! A critical assessment of the protests against the WKR ball. In: Research Group Ideologies and Politics of Inequality (Ed.): Right-wing extremism. Developments and Analyzes, Volume 1. Mandelbaum, Vienna 2014, p. 217.
  9. ↑ Academic Ball: Massive criticism of the police and rioters. In: Der Standard , January 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ Article in the Standard of January 31, 2015, accessed on February 2, 2015.
  11. ↑ a b Huge police force, 500 demonstrators, four arrests . In: The Standard . January 29, 2011.
  12. ^ Protests against the "Burschenschafter Ball" in Hofburg . In: The press . January 22, 2008.
  13. ↑ Protests announced . In: The Standard . January 29, 2009.
  14. ↑ a b Set an example now !: Supporters
  15. ↑ a b How the FPÖ saved the Hofburg for the fraternity members. In: Der Standard , February 1, 2015. p. 17.
  16. ^ Saskia Jungnikl, Sebastian Pumberger: Right-wing extremist Vlaams Belang boss at the Hofburg Ball . In: The Standard . February 9, 2010.
  17. ↑ Anita Zielina: Five questions and answers about the WKR ball . In: The Standard . January 28, 2011.
  18. ↑ Most controversial ball in Austria. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . January 26, 2012.
  19. ↑ Austrian Students' Union: ÖHs University of Vienna and federal representatives are calling for the demonstration against the WKR-Ball . January 27, 2011.
  20. ↑ Austrian Parliament: WKR-Ball in the Hofburg (4430 / AB): Inquiry response from the Federal Minister for Economy, Family and Youth Dr. Reinhold Mitterlehner on the written question (4480 / J) from the MPs Mag. Wolfgang Zinggl, colleagues to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Family and Youth regarding the WKR ball in the Hofburg . April 1, 2010.
  21. ^ Casinos Austria against WKR-Ball in Vienna Hofburg . In: The Standard . November 30, 2011.
  22. ^ Ralf Leonhard: Korporationsball Wien: Dance of the right thugs. In: the daily newspaper . January 19, 2012, accessed January 23, 2013 .
  23. ^ Ball Committee of the Vienna Corporations Ball: Counterstatement . November 30, 2011.
  24. ↑ Wiener Zeitung : Show me your three colors and I'll tell you who you are ; accessed on Jan 26 2018
  25. ↑ Tirol.com: 400 leftists protest against the Graz Academic Ball ( memento of the original from January 27, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on Jan 26 2018 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unsertirol24.com
  26. ↑ UNESCO removes “Vienna Ball” from the world cultural heritage . In: Small newspaper . January 19, 2012.
  27. ↑ SOS Mitmensch : Elfriede Jelinek for resignation of the UNESCO Commission after WKR cultural heritage scandal . January 19, 2012.
  28. ^ Committee strikes Vienna balls from culture list, citing concerns about extremism. In: The Washington Post . January 19, 2011.
  29. ^ Blaise Gauquelin: Valse brune à Vienne . In: Liberation . January 28, 2012
  30. ↑ Sharp criticism of Le Pen for visiting "disgusting ball" . In: The Standard . January 31, 2012.
  31. ↑ Tobias Müller: The last dance of the "new Jews" in the Hofburg . In: The Standard . January 29, 2012.
  32. ↑ Broad outrage over Strache's comparison of Jews . In: The Standard . January 30, 2012.
  33. ↑ "Completely wrong and out of context" . In: ORF . 3rd February 2012.
  34. ↑ Christine Imlinger, Erich Kocina: The fight for the Hofburg . In: Die Presse , January 24, 2014
  35. ↑ CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION REPORT 2009 , accessed on December 3, 2014.
  36. ↑ Federal Ministry of the Interior (ed.): Verfassungsschutzbericht 2014 . P. 26.
  37. ↑ The fraternity ball caused protests again . In: Kronen Zeitung . January 28, 2011.
  38. ^ Klaus Stöger: Vienna: The demo metropolis . In: The press . January 29, 2011
  39. ↑ Annual report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter Terrorism for 2011
  40. ↑ 700 advertisements in Demo gegen Ball , oe24.at, February 1, 2010 (accessed on August 30, 2014)
  41. ↑ The Human Rights Advisory Board : - Recommendation on how to deal with so-called "police cauldrons". Recommendation No. 349
  42. ^ Vienna: Spontaneous demonstration after the no-WKR demo ban , January 28, 2011 (accessed on August 30, 2014)
  43. ↑ Spontaneous demonstration against the ban on demonstrations , Daniel Hrncir, WienTV.org, January 28, 2011 (accessed on August 30, 2014)
  44. ^ No WKR 2011 - The forbidden demo , Free Medium Ottensheim, January 29, 2011 (accessed on August 30, 2014)
  45. ↑ Prohibition of the anti-WKR demo 2011 unconstitutional. derStandard.at, April 16, 2013, accessed on April 18, 2013 .
  46. ^ Andreas Wetz: Demo tourists from Germany at WKR-Ball . In: The press . January 28, 2012.
  47. ↑ Maria Sterkl: Questions and answers Anti-WKR demos . In: The Standard . January 27, 2012.
  48. ↑ a b WKR-Ball: 21 arrests at demo . In: ORF . January 28, 2012
  49. ↑ a b WKR demo: What really happened . In: The Standard. 3rd February 2012.
  50. ↑ Strache on WKR-Ball: “We are the new Jews” . In: The Standard. January 29, 2012.
  51. ^ Rechtswalzer , Profil, February 4, 2012
  52. ↑ Konecny ​​case: Investigations against police officers . In: The Standard. February 9, 2012.
  53. ↑ Academic ball: exchange of blows after the ball night. Four injured, twelve arrests - the FPÖ certified total failure of the Vienna police force kurier.at, accessed on January 30, 2014
  54. ↑ The ball could only take place thanks to the police. The Viennese executive rejects FP attacks, claiming that they failed at the academics ball diepresse.com, accessed on February 7, 2013
  55. ↑ Academic ball: exchange of blows after the ball night. Four injured, twelve arrests - the FPÖ certifies total failure of the Vienna police force kurier.at, accessed on February 7, 2013
  56. ↑ Mass protest against the academics ball. In: The Standard. February 2, 2013.
  57. ↑ Graphic: The ban on seats applies here , Die Presse, 23 January 2014.
  58. ↑ Police decree prohibition of masking (January 22, 2014) , wien.orf.at, accessed on January 25, 2014.
  59. ↑ No space for journalists , Wiener Zeitung, 23 January 2014.
  60. ↑ Large police presence at demonstrations , Der Standard, January 24, 2014.
  61. ^ Celebration of the right-wing populist FPÖ: Opponents of the academics ball riot in Vienna. In: Spiegel Online . January 24, 2014.
  62. ↑ Demo against dancing right-wing populists. ( Memento from December 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: tagesschau.de . January 24, 2014.
  63. ↑ Alles Linkswalzer , report from WienTV.org, January 31, 2014 (accessed on August 30, 2014)
  64. ↑ a b cf. Witness questioning in the "Josef S. Trial, Court: Josef S. is guilty , reporting from the courtroom (accessed on August 30, 2014)
  65. ↑ Akademikerball: "Police operation was a huge success" , kurier.at, accessed on January 28, 2014.
  66. ↑ Akademikerball: Massive criticism of the police and rioters on derstandard.at, accessed on January 29, 2014.
  67. ↑ Large police presence at demonstrations , Der Standard, January 24, 2014.
  68. ↑ Academic Ball of the FPÖ: Opponents riot in Vienna
  69. ↑ Police beat journalists. In: WienerZeitung.at . January 24, 2014.
  70. ↑ Occasional escalation in the city center , ORF, January 25, 2014.
  71. ↑ Arrests, injured, destroyed cars. ORF, January 25, 2014, accessed on January 25, 2014 .
  72. ↑ Der Standard : Akademikerball-Proteste: Indictment against German activists , March 18, 2014
  73. ↑ 2,000 police officers and € 1 million for demo use. ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Heute.at . January 24, 2014.
  74. ↑ orf.at: Twelve months imprisonment for Josef S. , July 22, 2014, accessed on July 22, 2014.
  75. ↑ Six months conditional imprisonment for Hüseyin S. - judgment not final , derstandard.at, August 18, 2014 (accessed on August 30, 2014); Second Akademikerball trial: judgment final , diepresse.com ( APA ), August 22, 2014
  76. ↑ Thousands of guests at the Vienna Academic Ball, 8,000 demonstrated against it. In: derstandard.at . January 29, 2016, accessed February 6, 2017 .
  77. ↑ Akademikerball demo ran smoothly on wien.orf.at, accessed on February 6, 2017
  78. ↑ STANDARD Verlagsgesellschaft mbH: "Hysteria": Feminist fraternity satirizes right-wing male associations . In: derStandard.at . ( derstandard.at [accessed December 26, 2017]).
  79. ↑ Christine Imlinger, Eva Winroither, Bernadette Bayrhammer, Iris Bonavida and Philipp Splechtna: Peaceful, but big protest against FPÖ ball , Die Presse , January 27, 2018
  80. ↑ Hasnain Kazim: Burschenschaftsball in Vienna: Dance on the right, demonstrate on the left , Spiegel Online , January 27, 2018
  81. ↑ Kleine Zeitung : Akademikerball - moderate demonstration against blue ball ; accessed on Feb. 27, 2019
  82. ↑ Soundcloud : 5 / 8erl in honor
  83. ↑ FM4 : 25 protest songs , January 11, 2016