The letter states that the higher penalty is intended to act as a deterrent and “ultimately prevent other lawless people from duplicating such actions.” The OVP proposal provides for up to three months in jail for blocking emergency vehicles and endangering others.
“The grand challenges of climate protection require the widest possible social acceptance. However, with their increasingly radical climate opposition, climate stickers are bothering larger and larger segments of the population,” Mikl-Leitner explained. It is feared that the time around the start of school will increasingly be used for road blockades.
“The activists have no respect for the rules of our social coexistence and our law. This clearly shows us that the small penalties currently in force have no deterrent effect and that the Austrian legal system is not adequately prepared for this form of permanent blockade, “said the governor. For example, Great Britain previously has reacted only to these “unjustified disruptive actions”, where there could be a threat of a prison sentence of several years.
Even before the Lower Austrian state elections in January, Mickel-Leitner called for a hardening of the right of the assembly and a change. The letter states, “Although the Ministry of the Interior has now put my proposal into a draft law, the Ministry of Justice has unfortunately so far only seen this development on the streets of Europe.” According to the state’s governor, criminal liability for climate adhesive campaigns is “highly delayed if these emergency vehicles are blocked and thereby endanger others, even if negligently”.
The recently announced OVP resolution states that the head of the assembly has to ensure that the passage of emergency vehicles is not obstructed. There is an administrative fine of 720 Euros. “Whoever obstructs the path of emergency vehicles and thereby endangers the life and health of other people” should expect up to three months in prison. The Greens, as a coalition partner in the federal government, were not happy when the proposal became known.
“Activists have continued to increase the radicalization of their measures,” the OVP politician said. This goes on until “something terrible happens and people in Austria are harmed in these protests” or the legislator takes action again.
