Strache said the government is “unable and unwilling” to protect Austria’s national borders
FPÖ leader calls for border fences and military patrols to keep refugees out.
Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of Austria’s pro-White Freedom Party (FPÖ), is going to sue the government in Vienna and the national railways for what he described as their failure to protect the country’s borders from large numbers of invaders.
Strache said he holds Chancellor Werner Faymann — a Social Democrat — and his defense and interior ministers, as well as the state railway company ÖBB, accountable for “everyday lawbreaking”.
In Sunday’s ORF TV program Pressestunde, Strache said the invasion plot the government is “unable and unwilling” to protect Austria’s national borders, which is its legal duty.
“We are responsible for the protection of our citizens,” Strache said, adding that in his view Austria should erect border fences and use army patrols along areas of the frontier where fences are not possible. But the army shouldn’t act as a “welcoming organisation,” he said, voicing admiration for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s tough tactics against migrants.
Austria is a transit country for refugees arriving in Europe via Turkey and Greece who want to travel on to Germany. Last month, Faymann and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker jointly rejected proposals for frontier fences, saying they “have no place in Europe.”
In early October, Strache’s FPÖ gained ground in the mayoral vote in Vienna after reaping the electoral benefits of its anti-invasion campaign in regional polls throughout the year.
