A 23-year-old man stabbed six passersby in southern Austria on Saturday in what police said was a random attack. The suspect is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria, they said. The victims were all men, with two seriously injured and two sustaining minor injuries, police said. Police said it wasn’t clear whether the suspect acted alone and continued to search for potential additional suspects. The issue of migration has taken center stage in many European countries, with far-right parties making inroads in elections. In Austria, migration was a prominent topic up to last year’s election, which resulted in the Freedom Party securing its first national election victory since World War II. The incident marked the fifth attack involving immigrants in Germany over the past nine months. It wasn’t immediately known whether there is any connection between the attacker and the victims. According to the Interior Ministry, 24,941 foreigners applied for asylum in Austria in 2024. The largest group of applicants was from Syria, followed by Afghanistan. In 2022, applications peaked at over 100,000, while approximately 59,000 individuals sought asylum in 2023.
