1999: Operation Spring

The death of Marcus Omofuma during deportation while in police custody resulted in numerous protests in early May 1999, but also in justifications by the authorities (including the Social Democrat-run Interior Ministry). A short time later, in the early hours of 27 May 1999, what is thought to have been the largest police operation in the history of the Second Republic took place,  Operation Spring. During the operation, around one hundred suspected drug dealers of African origin were arrested across Austria; many of the charges turned out to be baseless.

On the day before, the Viennese Freedom Party (FPÖ) had placed an advert in the Kronen-Zeitung newspaper with the caption “Powerless against 1000 Nigerians”. As it later turned out, the police operation had been leaked to the FPÖ by a sympathetic police official (known as the “Informer Affair”). After an election campaign characterised by anti-foreigner sentiment, on 3 October 1999 the FPÖ became the second strongest party in the National Council. At the beginning of 2000 it became a coalition partner in the government led by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP).

The judicial aftermath of Operation Spring was heavily criticised. Documentary evidence, for example, was incorrectly translated and masked witnesses were called. These failings of due process, the disproportionality of Operation Spring and the death of Marcus Omofuma changed the situation of Black people in the Second Republic in different ways. Among (Austro-)Africans, at first there was a period of resignation and attempts at political self-organisation proved difficult. At the same time, several integration projects in areas such as housing and the labour market were launched, as well as training courses for the police relating to racism and attitudes towards African migrants etc., although these were only offered on a voluntary basis. There seemed to be some successes but only in the medium-term. 2003 and 2005 saw further deaths of African men in police custody and the blanket criminalisation of Black people continued for a long time. On the other hand, all these factors resulted in intensive discussions about the human rights of migrants and the rule of law in Austria, which continue to this day.