Gang used social media to lure and attack gay people - Austrian police

At least 15 people have been arrested in Austria and Slovakia accused of hate crimes aimed at the gay community, according to state police in southern Austria.

Some 400 officers took part in raids on Friday morning on behalf of the Graz public prosecutors office.

They arrested 12 men and three women, aged 14 to 26, who are accused of luring people - many gay - to remote locations using fake social media accounts, before beating them up and filming it.

"The group claimed that its actions were aimed at paedophiles," Styria state police wrote on their X page. "In reality, the increasingly brutal acts were directed against the homosexual community."

The perpetrators began luring people using social media accounts in May 2024. Police said the suspects "acted under the guise of vigilantism".

Masked men met tricked individuals in remote places and then filmed themselves beating, robbing and abusing the victims, police said. They then uploaded the footage to online groups.

At least 17 cases had been identified so far, they said, with one even under investigation for attempted murder.

Police believe there could be more unreported cases.

Officers raided 23 homes across Austria and in neighbouring Slovakia. Of those 15 men and women arrested, 11 were Austrian, one Croatian, one German, one Romanian, and one Slovakian.

Austrian media also reported that police found weaponry and Nazi memorabilia during their house searches.

Austrian special forces are working with police forces and prosecutors in seven states across the country, they said, although authorities added that there was "no concrete threat to the public".