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18. 03. 10. - 13:00

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18. 03. 10. - 13:00

Asylum seeker tries to torch himself

An Afghan asylum seeker tried to burn himself to death at a petrol station in Hall in Tyrol’s Innsbruck-Land district yesterday (Weds), police said.

The man, 21, entered the station, bought a lighter then went to a petrol pump and doused himself with gasoline.

A pump attendant and two other men who saw what was happening rushed over in time to stop the man from setting himself on fire.

Police who took him to a doctor and then a psychiatric institute said it was unclear why the Afghan had tried to commit suicide since he could speak only his native language and they had been unable to communicate with him.

The incident follows People’s Party (ÖVP) Interior Minister Maria Fekter saying for the first time earlier this month that Austria might not need a third asylum seekers’ centre - a move seen by many as being a policy U-turn.

Fekter said asylum seeker figures needed to be monitored "at least until summer" before a final decision would be made.

The minister came under fire last December when she announced plans to set up such a centre in the remote Burgenland town of Eberau. Residents and Burgenland politicians of all parties were furious with Fekter for failing to inform them about her secret talks with the town’s ÖVP Mayor Walter Strobl.

Strobl in the meantime made a U-turn on the issue and admitted he realised it would be a bad idea to open such a centre against the will of the people. The mayor also said he realised the area did not have the infrastructure essential for one.

More than 90 per cent of Eberau residents voted against the construction of a centre for asylum seekers in the town in a referendum last month.

Fekter said ahead of the referendum she would respect its outcome – but also warned she might call on the Federal High Court to decide on the matter.

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