A total of 16 schools in St. Pölten, Lower Austria, were closed on Tuesday morning after receiving multiple bomb threats overnight, leaving 5,000 pupils staying at home.
Police and state security agencies are conducting extensive investigations while searching school buildings. The lockdown is expected to remain in place through Wednesday.
The closures come amid growing concerns about bomb threats disrupting life across Austria. These threats have previously affected train stations, shopping centres, and educational facilities in cities like Graz, Innsbruck, Vienna, and Salzburg.
Why were the schools closed?
According to the Lower Austrian Education Directorate, bomb threats were sent to schools in St. Pölten on Tuesday night, prompting immediate closures for safety reasons. Some schools that did not receive direct threats were also closed because they were close to the affected facilities.
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Fritz Lengauer, spokesperson for the Lower Austrian Education Directorate, explained to Kurier that searches would continue into Wednesday as police cannot precisely determine when the threats were issued. “It’s not possible to pinpoint the exact time of the threat. That’s why the buildings will be searched by the police on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Lengauer said.
Emergency childcare has been arranged at some school head offices, but regular classes remain suspended.
What do we know about the threats?
The threatening emails, reportedly written with Arabic characters, included alarming phrases such as “You infidels will die.” However, authorities have not yet confirmed the sender's identity or the specific motive behind the threats.
The Lower Austrian State Office for State Protection and Counter Extremism (LSE), led by Roland Scherscher, emphasised that investigations are ongoing and warned against jumping to conclusions. “We can only say what is really behind it once the perpetrator has been identified. Everything else is speculation,” Scherscher told Kurier.
Tracking the senders of such threats is notoriously difficult, as perpetrators often disguise their digital footprints using tools like virtual private networks (VPNs).
Is there a connection to previous threats?
In recent months, Austria has experienced a wave of bomb threats that have disrupted daily life, particularly targeting train stations and public spaces. Authorities previously identified a 20-year-old Swiss national suspected of sending 27 bomb threats to various locations in Austria since late September.
As reported last month, police issued a European arrest warrant for the suspect, and investigations have continued in collaboration with Swiss authorities. The individual was arrested in October but later released, with criminal proceedings ongoing in Switzerland.
However, the current threats against schools in St. Pölten appear to be unrelated to the earlier incidents. According to Kurier, investigators suspect the Swiss man may be a “free rider,” exploiting the existing chaos but not directly responsible for these specific threats.
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