Is peace now returning?

On the hunt for drugs in the Graz protection zone

Intensive search for narcotics in the new protection zone on Thursday(Bild: Jürgen Radspieler)

Since Monday, the Volksgarten in Graz has once again been a protection zone in order to curb the rampant drug-related crime. The "Krone" was on patrol in the problem park with Graz police officers and service dogs on Thursday - and has the first results.

Since midnight on Monday, the protection zone in Graz's Volksgarten, which had been vehemently demanded by local residents and the city's ÖVP party, has been in force. For many residents, the park had long since become a "no-go area" where brute force, mobbing and unabashed drug deals were the order of the day. Now officers from the nearby Lend police station and various special units have a new and effective measure in their hands: They can turn suspicious people away from the "green oasis" and order them to stop returning. And this has already happened several times in the past few days.