A) I am not a troll and B) I hesitate to post because when a post about race comes up it gets touchy, but I have to ask. A group of us, ethnically diverse, were thinking of travelling to Vienna and Salzburg in the fall. We even started planning; however we recently came across the story of a young African American male teacher, who lives in Vienna, and was brutally beaten in the subway by police a few weeks ago.
usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-16-austria-p…
We got on the internet and found other news articles and stories, some in this forum, of mistreatment by police and business owners in Vienna and Salzburg. There are 2 African American males in our travel group. They are no stranger to mistreatment unfortunately, but we did not want to go and spend money there if they could be in danger especially since when we travel we tend to split up so everyone can see what they want. These things can happen anywhere and they happen here, but from what you know or experienced is the the behavior of police and others towards certain groups of people a very real problem in Austria?
Thanks!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
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This case you have read about is a one in a million exception and can happen anywhere in the world, to any race. That has nothing to do with being black. It is very unfortunate but if this had happened to a caucasian it probably wouldn%26#39;t have made headlines.
Austrians are my no means racists, as aren%26#39;t any other Europeans, or in that matter the majority of the world%26#39;s population. I would not cancel any planned trip due to that article.
I honestly feel more secure in Austria (have travelled there lots as being from Germany) than I do in Canada or the US and police is not as present there as it is in North America.
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HoldayTravelFan,
Thank you. Things like pickpocketing and petty theft are no big deal to us. 1 of the guys lives in NYC and has travelled quite a bit so a lot of things don%26#39;t bother him, but hearing things like this happen in a small country in comparison to the US and you have a friend that %26quot;fits the profile%26quot; of victim, we were concerned. Normally language and cultural barriers don%26#39;t bother us, but when those things happen here you know what to do or how to react. As a tourist its a bit different. If we were planning to go somewhere and one of us had heard there was a rash of rapes occuring, even if people raved about the place and never had a problem, they%26#39;d be concerned for the women in the group.
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Unfortunate things happen all over the world.
Millions of visitors find Vienna to be a beautiful, cultured city each year.
These visitors comprise all racial and religious backgrounds.
I must assume most all visit without any troubles. In fact a record number of tourists visited last year.
I have visited New York before and after what some call %26quot; Hate Crmes %26quot; or Police abuse %26quot; I considered them to be isolated incidents that can happen anywhere and did not let them deter me.
It is most unfortunate that news stories often seem to report such stories but neglect to follow- up on the happenings after initial reporting.
If news stories can be believed- I offer the following summary of reporting after this incident-
Follow up news articles here that apparently have not been seen elsewhere.
An investigation after the incident based on eye witness accounts of the happenings found that the man had not been mistreated.
Further the injuries claimed -damage to vertebrae were apparently not found. Reports say a hospital patient reported that the man only %26quot; hobbled about %26quot; when others were near..
Other times , he walked about normally.
Hospital records would be confidential.
Eye witness testimony concluded that the two policamen identified themselves at the beginning of the incident.
In summary,the investigation concluded that the two under cover polic did not mistreat the man ,an afro- american who had been living ang and working in Vienna for 4 years.
The police in question remain on duty.
Meanwhile ,the Public Prosecutor is revieewing the case.
I would rely more on the millions of happy visitors of all races making visits without trouble and not on what may or may not be an incident deter travel.
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If you re-think travel due to occasional news items, you%26#39;ll be a hermit.
This was a reported case of mistaken identity and the victim has lived in Vienna 4 years %26quot;without seing it before%26quot;
Vertical adds other suspicions and you can never rely of USA media for reporting events in Europe.
If it was a white victim of mistaken identity, which happens far more often, would it make news?
Enjoy Austria.
Stoofer
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Oh my god! Please do not take this incident as reason to not travel to Vienna. It was a mistake (with bad and non-excusable consequences), but I would not say that the victim was BRUTALLY beaten (although he was injured). In the end only the police and the victim exactly know what happened at the subway station. As American you are likely to know how brutal US police can be in certain situations. The real (African) drug dealer, the police looked for, was imprisoned shortly after the American teacher was mistakenly handcuffed. Unfortunately, media rarely covers stories about police officers being hurt by African (and other) drug dealers (and that is the statement of a police officer whose parents immigrated from Nigeria years ago! Source: DiePresse Daily Newspaper). Africans are highly active in the drug scene. I already observed their activities at Schottenring at late evening and on subway trains.
Police often deserves the criticism, but not (entirely) in this case. Take any reason to skip Vienna, but don%26#39;t start the %26quot;All-Austrians-are-racists-because-of-their-dark-past%26quot; argumentation line. We do not deserve it.....
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