Squatting is a tradition in Salzburg
On Saturday morning, activists occupied a villa in St. Gilgen-Burgau for a few hours (more on this in salzburg.ORF.at, May 21, 2022). A week earlier, several people dressed in black broke into a house in Salzburg’s Andräviertel. The building in the state capital has been empty for a long time, and it has belonged to ex-ski star Marcel Hirscher for about a year (more on this in salzburg.ORF.at, May 14, 2022).
“The more provocative, more in the media”
The activists wrote e-mails under the name “riseup” to draw attention to their protest. Even after multiple ORF requests, those responsible did not give any further comments. According to their emails, the protests are about unaffordable housing and vacancies.
The occupations definitely have a media effect, says Eric Miklin, a political scientist at the University of Salzburg: “The more provocative I appear, the more likely it is that I’ll be in the media.” The political scientist cites environmental movements such as Greenpeace as examples, but also the identities that plan such actions more intensively. “People create attention. The question then is, how much approval does it meet and how does the political system deal with it? So these topics are included or not. Depending on it can grow or flatten out.”
Possible Legal Consequences
The criminal offense of trespassing can in principle be up to three years in prison, but the owner must first report it.
The squatting at Lake Attersee has no legal repercussions. The activists did not enter the building. No reports were made to the police. In the case of the squatting of the property of ex-ski star Marcel Hirscher, the police are giving the public prosecutor a report on the criminal assessment. It’s being investigated.
Squatting: A Review
Such actions have a long tradition in Salzburg. However, it has been years since the last major squats. In the 1990s, young homeless people occupied an empty company site in Salzburg-Parsch, the “Punkerhaus”.
Peter Engel, a former squatter, remembers the actions: “It definitely had an effect, namely that people thought about how the young people are actually doing, what could be done with the empty apartments. But it did far too little. The same situation still prevails today. Apartments are still being held back as objects of speculation, so price gouging WILL be done to a certain extent.” The current apartment prices are unacceptable for young people.
Long-term trend: more promotions
Years later, the current housing situation in Salzburg is again driving young people onto the streets. In addition, there are the current crises such as the CoV pandemic, the Ukraine war and the climate crisis. In the long term, this leads to more protests, says Eric Miklin: “In the long term, we see a trend over many decades that such forms of protest tend to increase slightly, with extra-parliamentary protests in Austria being relatively weak compared to other countries.”
According to the political scientist, such protests always come in waves. A slight increase can be noticed, but less pronounced than in large cities such as Vienna, Berlin or Paris.