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  1. #1
    Senior Member CCUSA's Avatar
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    Far Right Austria Govenor Isolated Asylum Seekers

    Far-right Austria governor isolates asylum seekers




    By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer
    Tue Oct 7, 7:01 PM ET



    VIENNA, Austria - Far-right Gov. Joerg Haider has set up a facility in the remote mountains of southern Austria to handle asylum seekers suspected as criminals, saying they need to be isolated to protect the people in the area.

    Haider gained international prominence in 1999 when the Freedom Party, which he then headed, took 27 percent of the vote in Austria's parliamentary elections. The party's subsequent inclusion in the government led to months of European Union sanctions over Haider's statements, which were seen as anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and sympathetic to Adolf Hitler's labor policies.

    Haider is now governor of Carinthia province and his regional government set up the facility for asylum seekers, which sits in a secluded pasture in the mountains of southern Austria at an altitude of about 3,900 feet.

    "With this security precaution, we are protecting the Carinthian population," Haider told a news conference Monday. He said the number of criminal asylum seekers was on the rise.

    Haider has a history of taking a strong stand on asylum seekers, saying criminals among them drain the country's resources and should be expelled.

    Human rights experts expressed concern about the holding facility on Tuesday.

    "The whole thing sounds strongly like banishment," said Heinz Patzelt, head of Austria's chapter of Amnesty International. "There's no place for that in a modern system with a rule of law."

    Haider's spokesman Stefan Petzner said no one's rights were being violated.

    "It's a perfectly normal establishment far away from civilization in a secluded area so they can't get up to anything," said Petzner. "You shouldn't think of this as a prison surrounded by barbed wire."

    He said that the asylum seekers were allowed to move about freely on the premises but were being monitored.

    The holding center in a former children's home is only for asylum seekers suspected as criminals. But Petzner said conviction was not a "mandatory prerequisite" for being sent there.

    The building has the capacity to hold 50 but currently houses five men and has been in use for about a week. Petzner confirmed media reports saying the five came from Georgia, Kazakhstan and Gambia. He did say some in the group had been convicted, but did not say of what.

    Petzner said residents would be "under constant observation so that no criminal acts can be committed."

    Austria's government largely leaves it up to individual provinces how to handle asylum seekers. Many around the country live independently or in other facilities where they are free to come and go. Carinthia currently has about 900 asylum seekers in total.

    Roland Schoenbauer, officer-in-charge of the Vienna branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said his office had asked Carinthian authorities to provide details about the conditions in the facility and those working there.

    Schoenbauer also criticized the practice — by Haider and others — of associating asylum seekers with crime.

    "The repeated and constant linkage of asylum seekers with crime by leading politicians is extremely worrying as it leads to a general criminalization of asylum seekers in public and undermines the integration of those who get refugee status," he said.

    Haider now heads another far-right party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, and he has toned down his rhetoric but still retains a strong following.

    In last month's elections, Haider's party received 10.7 percent and the far-right Freedom Party gained 17.5 percent of the vote. The combined results — 28.2 percent — placed the parties on nearly equal footing with the Social Democrats, who came in first place with 29.3 percent.





    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_ ... _seekers_3
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  2. #2
    Serenanocturna's Avatar
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    Great info, CCUSA!

    Let's hope they fill this holding facility to capacity & then have to follow Sheriff Arpaio's lead (in AZ) to set up tents & make 'em all wear pink underpanties, while they waiting to be deported!

    And as for the UN spokeshole, Schoenbauer - he & all UN scum should be deported , too!

    But that's next on the list of things to do....

  3. #3
    Senior Member CCUSA's Avatar
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    Shocker. He died in a car accident today.

    Austrian rightist leader Joerg Haider dead at 58 By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer

    1 hour, 46 minutes ago



    VIENNA, Austria - Austrian politician Joerg Haider, whose far-right rhetoric at times sounded sympathetic to the Nazis and contemptuous of Jews and led to months of international isolation for the Alpine republic, died Saturday in a car accident. He was 58.

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    Haider was pronounced dead in a hospital shortly after his Volkswagen Phaeton veered off the road in southern Austria and overturned several times after he had passed another car, police said. Authorities said an initial investigation showed no signs of foul play.

    "For us, it's like the end of the world," said Haider's spokesman and the alliance's secretary-general, Stefan Petzner.

    At the time of his death, Haider was governor of the province of Carinthia and leader of the Alliance for the Future of Austria — a party he formed after breaking away from the far right Freedom Party in 2005.

    In 1999, Haider received 27 percent of the vote in national elections as leader of the Freedom Party, which ran an anti-immigrant campaign critical of European Union goals of opening membership to Eastern European countries.

    Though Haider denied accusations he was pro-Nazi, the party's inclusion in the coalition government led to months of EU sanctions over his statements, which were seen as anti-Semitic or sympathetic to Adolf Hitler's labor policies.

    Austria's relations with Israel deteriorated when the party joined the federal government and Israel pulled its ambassador from Vienna.

    Despite his reputation as a firebrand, Haider had significantly toned down his rhetoric in recent years.

    Over the summer, he staged a comeback in national politics and helped his Alliance for the Future of Austria significantly improve their standing in Sept. 28 national elections.

    He and his supporters had left the Freedom Party in 2005 to form the relatively moderate Alliance for the Future of Austria. The Freedom Party's fall in popularity had been accompanied by growing infighting among party pragmatists and the rightist fringe that extended to people with links to neo-Nazi publications.

    Haider had sought to distance himself from his rightist past, which included a comment in 1991 that the Third Reich had an "orderly employment policy" and a 1995 reference to concentration camps as "the punishment camps of National Socialism."

    Earlier this week, Haider announced that had set up a facility in the remote mountains of southern Austria to handle asylum seekers suspected as criminals, saying they need to be isolated to protect the people in the area.

    Haider had a history of taking a strong stand on asylum seekers, saying criminals among them drain the country's resources and should be expelled.

    Human rights experts expressed concern about the holding facility.

    Haider, who was born Jan. 26, 1950 in Upper Austria, enjoyed tremendous popularity in the province of Carinthia. He was known by opponents and supporters alike as intelligent and politically savvy.

    Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer described the longtime politician as someone who had shaped Austria's domestic political landscape over decades.

    Austrian President Heinz Fischer described Haider's death as a "human tragedy."

    The impact of Haider's death on Austrian domestic politics was not immediately clear. Just last week, he and Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party, met for what appeared to be a successful attempt to put aside their personal differences in light of their combined success at the polls. Taken together, the results of their two parties came to 28.2 percent of the ballot — putting them on nearly equal footing with the winning Social Democrats.

    Strache said Haider introduced a completely new political style in the 1990s and contributed to making Austrian more democratic.

    "Joerg Haider achieved great things ... he was a great figure," he said.

    Haider is survived by his wife, two daughters and his mother, whose 90th birthday he and his family had planned to celebrate over the weekend.





    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/ap_ ... oC2CIV6w8F
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  4. #4
    Serenanocturna's Avatar
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    CCUSA wrote:
    Shocker. He died in a car accident today.
    Gee, that's a shameful waste of talent! Never mind threats from any jihadist whackos, such as Theo Van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Geert Wilders have been menaced by. Haider's reckless haste threw it all away!

    Haste really does make waste. Pretty sad...

    I sure hope they can find a strong replacement!

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