In just 24 hours, the bodies of four women and a girl were found in the Austrian capital. This sad day was called “Black Friday” in the country. Activists and politicians have demanded that the authorities take immediate action to prevent violence against women.
On Friday evening, the bodies of three women were found with traces of stab wounds in the Brigittenau district of central Vienna. A short time later, police arrested a 27-year-old Afghan national hiding in bushes near the brothel and found him with a knife.
On Sunday, Afghani “basically confessed” to the killing during his first interrogation, police said. His motives are currently unclear, but further investigations and inquiries are planned, the BBC reported. Post-mortem examination of the three deceased will also be held on Sunday.
Earlier, on Friday, the bodies of a 51-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter were found in the Austrian capital. They were in an apartment near Erdberg – about 12 km from where the three women's bodies were found hours later.
The BBC writes that the cases are unrelated. Investigators suspect the victim's husband and the slain girl's father to be behind the murder. They may have been strangled. “The ongoing preliminary investigation indicates that a blunt instrument was used,” said police spokesman Philip Haslinger.
“Holy Friday”
In Austria, they called this lucky day “Black Friday”. Activists and politicians have demanded that the authorities take immediate action to prevent violence against women.
Eva-Maria Holzleitner of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPO) called on the central government to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the country's women's rights crisis. “We mourn the murdered women, remember the survivors and call for the final implementation of a national action plan against violence to protect the lives of women in Austria,” Holzleitner said.
“This day will go down in history as 'Black Friday',” Klaudia Frieben, head of the OFR women's rights organization, wrote on social media.
Femicide in Austria
According to the latest data on femicide rates in Austria published by the Institute for Conflict Research (Institut für Konfliktforschung), more than 300 women were killed in the country between 2010 and 2020. Most of them are male victims, often ex-partners.
The Austrian government has pledged to take action by allocating nearly 25 million euros in 2021 to efforts aimed at protecting women from violence.
Main photo source: Shutterstock
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