Tumult in Breitenfurt

Medical center yes, but not on a greenfield site

A citizens' initiative is calling for a protest - even before and during a municipal council meeting.(Bild: zVg)

"We can't put up with this - a bomb is going in there!" This interjection, allegedly made at a protest event, was the preliminary climax of a dispute in Breitenfurt in the Mödling district of Vienna, which was reported on several times by the "Krone" newspaper. Latest step: peaceful demonstration at the local council meeting or "riots" after all?

The initial situation actually sounds positive: a doctor wants to expand his medical center for the benefit of the citizens. The quirx of the matter: the construction is to take place on a centrally located meadow in the city - which brought the Greens onto the scene. After a petition against the project and a lot of political wrangling, it now came to a preliminary "showdown": a list of citizens called for a demonstration during the municipal council meeting on Monday.

15 citizens came into the hall - then it was locked up
Only 15 people were allowed into the meeting room - for reasons of space, as Mayor Wolfgang Schredl emphasizes - and then the door was locked. But: "The proceedings were immediately disrupted by heckling in the hall and loud chants of protest from outside," says Schredl.

Instead of dialog: Acoustic displeasure and an even more questionable "ejection"
It is still confirmed that the head of the office wanted to expel the heckler, who according to Schredl also made the "bomb-sayer", from the hall. He fell in the process - opinions differ as to the cause: some say he was pushed. Others say he let himself fall. In any case, the meeting has been adjourned until October 7.

We only left the meeting room when almost everyone had already left. Several councillors stayed away altogether.

Wolfgang Schredl, Bürgermeister von Breitenfurt

To be continued . . . 
Although the executive was present, the evening will keep the authorities busy for some time to come: Green Party leader Gabriele Rass-Hubinek has filed a complaint against the mayor, among others. According to the latest information, the municipality is also planning legal action against the citizens' initiative.

A side note: Helga Krismer, head of the Green Party, was also on site - but did not want to say anything about the case.