Fifth teen nabbed for attack in former Austrian concentration camp

Austrian exports plummet by 25 per cent in January Vienna - A fifth teenage suspect has been nabbed for having attacked and hurt participants at a memorial event of a former concentration camp in Austria, an Interior Ministry official confirmed Tuesday.

The 14- to 17-year-old suspects have largely confessed the incident at the Ebensee camp in Upper Austria province on Saturday, in which they allegedly fired plastic ammunition on a group of French visitors, likely including one survivor of the camp.

One member of the French group was reportedly hurt, regional Interior Ministry official Alois Lissl told the German Press Agency dpa.

The male teenagers later shocked a group of Italian participants with Nazi salutes.

Interior Minister Maria Fekter on Tuesday announced an investigation into a possible rise of extremism in Austria, and about the contributing factors. Austria's police intelligence regularly monitors the neo-Nazi scene.

However, the suspects do not belong to such groups, according to police investigators.

"The youths did not say what moved them to do such things at such a young age," but they indicated they had wanted to provoke, Lissl said.

The five could face charges of committing National Socialist activities, bodily harm, and disturbing the peace of the dead.

Of the 27,000 men from all over Europe who were deported to Ebensee, around 8,500 perished in the camp run by the Nazi SS. (dpa)