Wiener Linien employees attacked and discriminated against passengers without a mask, claimed “FPÖ TV”. Now the FPÖ must withdraw.
The obligation to wear a mask caused a stir across Austria. While some defended them and many more or less patiently accepted them, there were also those who vehemently opposed wearing FFP2 masks. Verbal clashes between passengers and inspectors repeatedly occurred, especially in public transport. In rare cases, there were also violent attacks.
“Passenger in a headlock”
In a report on October 20, 2020, “FPÖ TV” claimed that Wiener Linien employees “repeatedly attacked passengers physically and in June 2020 put a passenger in a headlock and pushed him to the ground”. Furthermore, people who could not wear a mask for medical reasons were “again and again” discriminated against, the article went on to say.
Wiener Linien sued against allegations
Wiener Linien sued – and was right. The parliamentary club of the FPÖ, which is legally responsible for “FPÖ TV”, was sentenced to a revocation. Since the allegations of encroachment were spread via Youtube, this must now also be implemented via Youtube.
Media lawyer Maria Windhager now tweeted:
The revocation in the wording
“REVOCATION”
“Since October 20, 2020, we have been spreading false allegations about Wiener Linien GmbH & Co KG via the YouTube channel “FPÖ TV” that their employees repeatedly physically attack passengers and in June 2020 put a passenger in a headlock and closed them ground and would continue to discriminate against people who are medically exempt from wearing a mask. We hereby retract these allegations as untrue.”
The Liberal Parliament Club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=contentembe
Around 28,000 mask muffle punished
On March 1st, the FFP2 mask requirement in Vienna ended after three years, including in public transport. Around 28,000 mask muffles were caught and punished during this time. At 50 euros per penalty, 1.4 million euros were collected by non-mask wearers.
Read more: Mask penalties – so much was collected in the public transport
