Nationalrat debates allegation of violence in Leoben and connections between FPÖ and Identitäre

The debate gained particular urgency due to the political proximity of some of the accused to the FPÖ. Thus, one of the suspects was reportedly an employee of a Viennese FPÖ member of the Nationalrat until recently. Another suspect, Gernot S., who is also being investigated for incitement, was reportedly a parliamentary staff member of FPÖ MP Michael Oberlechner until recently.

Connections to the FPÖ

Oberlechner was quoted as saying: "Der betroffene ehemalige parlamentarische Mitarbeiter hat sich direkt bei mir beworben und war nur im Ausmaß von wenigen Wochenstunden angestellt. Ansonsten war in die Anstellung niemand eingebunden". On Monday evening, according to the available information, a statement was released saying the employment relationship had been terminated due to the allegations from Leoben. The FPÖ also announced via APA that it had "vor wenigen Wochen" parted ways with S.

The Grüne had placed the topic on the Nationalrat's agenda with a short debate at 3:00 p.m. Grüne MP Lukas Hammer, his faction's spokesperson on right-wing extremism, said that far-right assaults like the one in Leoben were occurring with increasing frequency, and time and again the suspects were members of or from the orbit of the Identitäre. He accused the FPÖ of failing "sich von dem rechten Schlägertrupp zu distanzieren."

Criticism from the Opposition Parties

Hammer specified that the movement wanted the deportation of millions of people, and that the FPÖ not only adopted its positions but even secured the Identitäre access to parliament, "dem Herzen der Demokratie." In addition, other Identitäre cadres were employed by the FPÖ or its MPs, including a person suspected of having been involved in a violent attack in Graz in 2016.

Specifically, Hammer named Fabian Rusnjak, who works for FPÖ MP Sebastian Schwaighofer, as well as Andreas Hinteregger, who is employed by FPÖ MP Maximilian Weinzierl. Both are reportedly attributed to the environment of the Identitäre Bewegung. The Grüne MP also referred to a photo showing Styrian FPÖ state chairman Mario Kunasek, who in a party resolution had wanted to exclude activists of other political groupings from functions in the FPÖ — a resolution that, according to the party, remains in force to this day.

SPÖ federal managing director Klaus Seltenheim said that the lack of demarcation from right-wing extremism ran "wie ein brauner Faden durch die Geschichte der FPÖ." The SPÖ, by contrast, wanted "keine Radikalinskis in Österreich haben," with whom FPÖ chief Herbert Kickl could allow himself to be "lachend abgebildet." Seltenheim referred to a photo showing Kickl laughing with one of the Leoben suspects.

ÖVP MP Wolfgang Gerstl accused the FPÖ of making use of the Identitäre and of undermining trust in institutions in order to subvert democracy: "Diese bedienten sich der Identitären und versuchten, indem man das Vertrauen in die Institutionen untergrabe, die Demokratie auszuhebeln."

Reaction of the FPÖ

NEOS club chairman Yannick Shetty said that democrats must not tolerate people in their own ranks who shouted "Sieg heil." He saw a radicalization of the FPÖ under the party leadership of Herbert Kickl. Shetty also pointed to an incident in which an FPÖ politician had driven a car with more than two per mille of alcohol in his blood, endangering families and passersby, without the party having reacted: "Der eine FPÖ-Politiker steigt sturzbesoffen mit mehr als zwei Promille ins Auto, gefährdet Familien, gefährdet Passanten. Nichts hat man von Ihnen gehört."

FPÖ general secretary Christian Hafenecker responded to the accusations by saying that violence could not be justified by anything and therefore belonged before a judge, "und das gilt auch für jene, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Akademikerball gewalttätig geworden sind, und für die Antifa." The FPÖ rejected any form of violence. Hafenecker also pointed to the argument that a politician could not vet everyone who stood next to him.

At the same time, Hafenecker fired back and accused the other parties of wanting to defame the FPÖ "in Bausch und Bogen." He called the approach a "windschiefen politischen Trick" and countered with an image showing Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen next to the well-known right-wing extremist Martin Sellner. In this way, he apparently attempted to draw a comparison between the political opposition and the Identitäre Bewegung.

Hafenecker was substantively supported by FPÖ chief Herbert Kickl, who in a 2021 interview played down the IBÖ as a kind of "rechte NGO." The Identitäre Bewegung itself pointed in the same direction, stating on platform X that the two accused had indeed appeared at events until recently, but that they had "seit knapp einem Jahr weder aktive Mitglieder noch Sprecher unserer Bewegung mehr sind." The movement emphasized that it fundamentally rejected violence.

Assessment by Researchers

The dimensions of the debate extend beyond the individual case in Leoben. The Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW) is a central research institution on right-wing extremism; its right-wing extremism researcher Bernhard Weidinger placed the events in the context of the IBÖ. Weidinger pointed out that from the outset the movement had relied on renouncing the offensive use of physical violence and had largely maintained this to the present day. At the same time, the movement's rhetoric was permeated with metaphors of war, struggle, and violence, and it insisted on the necessity of martial arts training, which was also conducted collectively.

Weidinger also said that the movement repeatedly justified acts of violence when, from its perspective, they had struck the "richtigen Ziele," and that the goal of "ethnische Entmischung" could only be implemented through the massive use of violence. The right-wing extremism researcher thus provided an ambivalent assessment: on the one hand, a public commitment to non-violence, and on the other, an ideological framing that accepts violence as tolerable in certain constellations.

The list of incidents with an Identitäre connection also mentioned in the debate is long. After an Identitäre demonstration in Vienna in July 2025, two uninvolved young men were reportedly insulted, beaten, and kicked by demonstration participants in the subway. At the same demonstration, the 24-year-old Thomas D. stood in the Identitäre's front banner and was later arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack, of illegally possessing weapons and ammunition, and of manufacturing weapon parts.

Other Known Incidents

In 2016, Identitäre in Graz doused the Grüne party office with "künstlichem Blut." In the same year, counter-demonstrators in Graz were attacked with telescopic batons by Identitäre, according to the available facts. In 2020, persons with connections to the IBÖ were convicted for involvement in an arson attack with Molotov cocktails on an asylum accommodation in Himberg in Lower Austria. In 2022, an IBÖ activist from Salzburg was convicted of grossly negligent bodily harm after a Corona demonstration.

The platform "Stoppt die Rechten" published, according to the available information, a list of such violent incidents with an Identitäre connection and stated: "Es ist mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit davon auszugehen, dass diese Auflistung (nicht einmal annähernd) vollständig ist". This note underscores that, in the opposition's view, the Leoben affair is only the tip of a pattern.

The FPÖ rejected the accusations as a whole. The party declared that it rejected any form of violence. The Styrian FPÖ under state chairman Mario Kunasek had, by its own account, also adopted a resolution before the Leoben affair stating that activists of other political groupings could not hold functions in the FPÖ. In Vienna, the FP