Austria held several events on Tuesday to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attack in downtown Vienna a year ago.

The leaders of the republic gathered in the Ruprechtkirche in the late afternoon.

It is located in the neighborhood in which an Islamist terrorist killed four people and injured more than 20, some seriously, with an assault rifle and a pistol on November 2, 2020.

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen remembered the victims of the “cowardly terrorist attack”, but also remembered many people who “weighed in” their lives and health in order to protect others.

"We try together to heal the wounds."

Stephan Löwenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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The top government and leading politicians from all parliamentary parties also took part, with the exception of FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl, who, it was said, was unable to attend. The City of Vienna had previously held a memorial with Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ). Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) expressed "our deeply felt condolences" to the injured victims and the bereaved of the dead. But as inhuman as the act was, the help and solidarity at this point were just as human.

Representatives from religious communities were also represented. The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, also recalled the victims of the Holocaust who were "driven to death with a comparable ideology". He asked: "How do such attitudes come about?" The Islamic Faith Community in Austria stated in a statement: "The atrocities of an ideology that glorifies violence and dehumanized have plunged an entire country into deep mourning." The Israelite religious community held a vigil.

At the same time, the opposition parties severely criticized the “turquoise-green” government.

The SPÖ spoke of a "flight of responsibility" because mistakes made by the security authorities in the responsibility of the ÖVP would be shifted to officials, as well as of "lack of empathy" because they had not apologized to the victims "and the whole population".

The FPÖ chairman Kickl, formerly Minister of the Interior himself, called for the resignation of the incumbent Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), who was responsible for “several breakdowns in advance”.

The Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Minister of the Interior wanted to honor emergency services in a police barracks that evening who had managed to involve the perpetrator in several exchanges of fire and kill him nine minutes after the first emergency call.