The terrorist attack in Vienna earlier this week briefly deflected some of the world’s attention away from the two main subjects that have dominated world news this year – the Coronavirus pandemic and the United States presidential election.
On Monday, a man killed four people and wounded more than 20 others in an attack in the Austrian capital city. He opened fire at people sitting in crowded bars and cafes a few hours before new restrictions related to Coronavirus came into effect. Before the attack in the heart of one of the most beautiful European cities, Austria had not been a target for terrorists in the 21st century.
The lone attacker was killed by the police before he could cause more fatalities and injuries. He was later identified as a 20-year-old with a previous conviction for trying to join the Islamic State group in Syria. He had been released in December.
The Islamic State group later claimed credit through the militant group’s media arm, Aamaq. It didn’t elaborate on the attacker’s ties to IS and had similar wording to past, opportunistic claims by the group.
The Austria incident followed other terrorist attacks in the past weeks, most notably in France where a Greek Orthodox priest was seriously wounded in Lyon, three were killed in Nice, a school teacher was beheaded in the northwest of Paris and four others were assaulted with a butcher knife in Paris. All four attacks in France took place since 25 September.
All this has triggered more attention across other countries in Europe, with Britain raising its terror threat level to severe on Tuesday. This level means that UK authorities are considering an attack in the United Kingdom as “highly likely”. The level had previously been at substantial, meaning an attack is thought to be likely.
The attack in Vienna evoked memories of similar incidents that have taken place in Europe over the past years, which were clearly attacks against the European way of life, the freedoms we enjoy and a higher standard of living than in other continents.
“We must not let our joy of life be taken away from us,” one Viennese remarked to the Associated Press. But this is easier said than done. Fear of terrorist attacks and fear of Covid-19 have certainly had a very negative impact on European cities.
Such attacks also add pressure on an already beleaguered tourism industry. We all know how travelling has been restricted this past year and how people are afraid to go abroad because of the pandemic. But, while Covid-19 will pass – hopefully sooner rather than later – terrorism is not something that will go away easily.
Our question is whether Malta would be prepared to handle such a situation, if it ever had to happen. Is the country equipped to deal with it? Do we have enough trained personnel to tackle eventual terrorist attacks which, as we are seeing, only take one person equipped with an automatic rifle to be carried out?
Malta has so far been spared such incidents. But it does not mean that they cannot eventually happen.