The police drew a “largely positive” balance after New Year’s Eve. Compared to previous years, it was largely quiet, reported the Ministry of the Interior (BMI). Several people gathered in some public places to mark the turn of the year, for example a few hundred people on Stephansplatz in Vienna to hear the pummerin ring. The current Covid regulations were however complied with by the majority of the people.
“Unpleasant was an incident in Vienna in which there was damage to property and attacks on police officers in the Reumannplatz area. Nine suspects were temporarily arrested,” said a BMI broadcast. The Vienna state control center received well over 4,000 emergency calls on the last and first day of the year. This resulted in almost 1,600 operations, reported the police. The officers moved out because of property damage, noise and the illegal ignition of pyrotechnic objects.
In Kreuth-Rappoltenkirchen (Lower Austria) a restaurant had opened illegally and served drinks. There were notifications under the Covid Measures Act. In Baden, an intoxicated 45-year-old put up resistance against state power and injured an official. In the Upper Austrian cities of Wels and Gmunden, rubbish bins were set on fire, and in the Freistadt district a man suffered injuries because he set a firecracker that had already burned down again.
In the Styrian capital Graz, garbage cans and the loading area of a small truck were set on fire. A farm building in St. Gallen and a single-family house in Selzthal were on fire. In Wildon, a 45-year-old man who had set off a fireworks battery was injured in the face by a rocket.
In Feldkirch, eight patrol crews were deployed to fire a shot. A man had shot out the window with a blank gun. A 44-year-old man was arrested in Hohenems after threatening his neighbor with a knife.
In Innsbruck, a suspect was seized with a alarm gun after the man fired several shots in the air. In Kufstein, a corona party was dissolved with 13 people who were extremely uncooperative with the officials.
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