To the uninitiated it may have seemed like a repeat of the illegal migrant masses on Austria’s border: About 500 police officers and 220 soldiers, including 200 police students as “refugees” demonstrated their skills on Tuesday morning for 30-minutes on the border with Slovenia in Spielfeld.
Austria’s determination not to let illegal immigrants into the country has persisted, with the Minister of the Interior Herbert Kickl and Defense Minister Mario Kunasek (both FPÖ) overseeing the exercise.
Various scenarios were played out, including the attempt of migrants to storm the border. In addition to the infantry and the new border patrol unit called “Puma”, there were also “Pandur” and “Hussar” armored vehicles with barriers and a water cannon deployed.
Five army helicopters simulated the introduction of further reinforcements from Salzburg. In an emergency, such a deployment should ideally be present within 24 to 48 hours at most.
The demonstration was also about sending a clear signal to migrants as well as to their own population, “that the border management works and the defense works – and that nobody believes that there will be a further wave”. In 2015 Kickl and Kunasek emphasized in front of the assembled press that thousands of migrants had stormed the border unhindered.
Kickl distributed first badges to “Puma” members. He explained that it was about protecting the Austrian borders effectively against illegal immigration with the help of the new border guard unit supported by local police forces and the assistance of the Armed Forces.
“A state that can not protect its borders in the event of a fall, loses its credibility,” said Kickl, on this occasion. The new unit is said to number a total of 600 men.
Kunasek said it showed that Austria was able to protect the border – and that a situation like October 2015 with the breakthrough of migrants on the border would not be repeated. He was proud of the concept he had worked out – he would present it to his colleagues at the forthcoming Defense Ministers’ Council, he added.
Slovenia’s Interior Minister Vesna Györkös Znidar, who had protested against the exercise in a letter to Kickl, was not very enthusiastic. She said that this action will not contribute to the good relations between the two countries and the joint activities to address the “refugee situation” in the region.
Especially counterproductive were the Neos, who drove through the pitch with a car with the poster reading: “Together instead of dividing Europe”. In Slovenian there was also a poster which read: “We apologize to our Slovenian EU citizens and partners.”
The Neos party supports the ending of conscription, and the creation of United States of Europe, an idea closely linked to George Soros.