A special police unit is investigating after posters called for the release of an arrested fascist were erected at a busy road.
Large banners with German slogans that can be translated as "Freedom for Gottfried Küssel!" and "Let our comrade free!" were eliminated after motorists driving along the B37 near Krems, Lower Austria, informed local police at the weekend.
Officials announced today (Mon) that the federal police department for the protection of the constitution and the fight against terrorism has taken over the investigations.
Küssel was put in custody earlier this month. The Austrian is considered as a mastermind of the European neo-Nazi scene. He has posed in front of pictures of Third Reich dictator Adolf Hitler many times and organised marches of skinheads in the Czech Republic and other countries.
The agitator is accused of cooperating with managers of a website on which neo-Nazis exchanged hate-filled messages against ethnic minorities and journalists. "Alpen-Donau" went offline shortly after Austrian prosecutors announced they informed their counterparts in the United States for support.
Austrian authorities were forced to watch on as the right-wingers did little to disguise their Austrian nationalities when posting notes about occurrences in the country because the server of the homepage was located in the USA. The online platform recently reappeared on the web under a slightly different name.
Two other people were also put in custody when six houses in Styria and Vienna were searched and Küssel was arrested. Police in Vienna said recently that all of the men remain in detention as investigations continue.
Meanwhile, Freedom Party (FPÖ) official Martin Graf has come under fire after a website run by some of his office staff contained a user’s message calling for the release of Küssel. Graf became the third president of the federal parliament in Vienna after the most recent general election in 2008. He is considered as a representative of the FPÖ’s powerful far-right wing.
FPÖ chairman Heinz-Christian Strache said he and his party had nothing to do with people frequenting "Alpen-Donau" after the faction was lauded for some decisions by users chatting on the controversial homepage’s discussion platform.
Austrian Independant
