A migrant from the association of the "Free Syrian Community Austria" volunteers with the clean-up of the floods in Kritzendorf, Austria, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
KRITZENDORF, Austria (Reuters) - Shovelling mud out of gardens almost two weeks after torrential flooding battered the small Austrian town of Kritzendorf, Abulhkeem Alshater gestures towards a banner: "Austro-Syrians say: Thank you, Austria."
Alshater, 45, originally from Homs, Syria, has been working with dozens of his countryfolk to help clean up the mess left by floods. The work is a gesture of gratitude to Austria at a time when immigration has become a hot topic in Sunday's general election.
Alshater hopes the sight of Syrians devoting time and energy to bring relief to the hard-hit state of Lower Austria will take some steam out of the often strident campaign rhetoric about uncontrolled immigration.
"There's an election on. We're trying to show that we're not all the same," said Alshater, who heads the Free Syrian Community of Austria, a support group for Syrians.
Fleeing war in their homeland, the number of Syrians living in Austria rose more than eightfold between 2015 and 2024, according to official data, with 95,180 there as of January.
Right-wing efforts to curb immigration to Austria have gained traction since deadly attacks in Germany blamed on migrants of Muslim origin, and a foiled plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert supposedly masterminded by an ISIS-inspired teenager.
For weeks, the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has led opinion polls, just ahead of the ruling conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP). Both parties promise to enact tougher asylum laws and crack down on illegal immigration if victorious.
Alshater, a painter and decorator who arrived in 2015, has spent the past few days helping locals recover from flooding in places like Kritzendorf just north of Vienna, where the deluge left houses partially submerged in muddy water.
Local homeowner Dinko Fejzuli, a resident of Austria who was born to parents from Croatia and Macedonia, said the Syrian volunteers had given rise to some interesting encounters.
"Yesterday, I brought some of the helpers to a lady who I know will be voting FPO", he said. "They helped her because she had neither friends nor family to help. It was ironic."
(Reporting by Louis van Boxel-Woolf; Editing by Dave Graham and David Gregorio)
