Austria far-right party video sparks outrage

Austria's far-right Freedom Party - which is expected to win next year's elections - has sparked fury with a "frightening" video glorifying fascist thinkers and making knowing nods to the country's Nazi past.

The two-minute promo - which splices an extremist conspiracy theory that white Europeans are being replaced by migrants with images of Notre Dame in Paris in flames - was made by the party's youth wing.

But the Freedom Party's hardline leader Herbert Kickl sprang to its defence, calling the video "great".

"I criticise the whole pseudo furore," he said, insisting that the video, on the party's official YouTube channel, showed "young people... with a positive approach to their homeland and nature."

The video shows the party's youth wing taking part in torchlight processions and standing below the Vienna balcony where Adolf Hitler gave his iconic speech when he returned to his homeland in triumph after the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938.

Austria's conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer led the criticism, saying the video "is meant to scare and is playing with images we know from the past".

Sigrid Maurer, a leader of the Greens, the junior partner in the country's ruling coalition, condemned its "Nazi imagery" and the video's singling out of journalists as "enemies of the state".

With the Freedom Party (FPOe) - whose founding leader was a former SS officer - high in the polls, observers say the video may signal a new radical shift in contrast to other far-right European parties that have been toning down their rhetoric to court mainstream voters.

'Extremist and anti-constitutional activities'

The party has been part of coalition governments several times, the last of which collapsed in scandal in 2019 when its then leader was filmed asking for money from a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece in exchange for public contracts.

"Under former party leaders, the FPOe set itself apart" from the extreme right, political scientist Peter Filzmaier told, who said the video evoked "memories of the darkest times in Austrian history and right-wing extremism.

"The video is frightening because parts of the FPOe youth wing obviously think like the extremist Identitarian movement, which is under surveillance by Austria's domestic intelligence agency (DSN)," he added.

The video has been reported to prosecutors with the DSN also investigating, according to media reports.

The DSN said it is "monitoring various persons and groups likely to be involved in extremist and anti-constitutional activities" but was unable to provide information about "possible investigations".

The FPOe has seen its support soar to around 30 percent in the latest polls - up from 16 percent in 2019 - buoyed by discontent over inflation, migration and the war in Ukraine.