There was chaos yesterday on the U-bahn in Vienna as several high-spirited “youths” terrorized passengers with guns and “Allahu Akhbar!”

Many thanks to Nash Montana for translating this piece from the Kronen Zeitung:

Young Migrants Trigger Mass Panic in Vienna Subway

Incident on Monday afternoon in the Vienna Subway: A group of young migrants near the U3 station Schweglergasse started to yell “Allahu Akhbar” according to a witness — and pulled out pistols. Panic broke out among the passengers — but one courageous witness promptly intervened.

Amer Albayati, a well known terror expert for the Krone [newspaper], also witnessed the incident. Four youths with migration backgrounds were yelling in Arabic and brandishing pistols — they may have been “airsoft guns”. Shots were heard.

Brave witness attacked the youths

The passengers panicked, reported Albayati, and tried to get as far away from the screaming youths as possible. One passenger tried to take down the lads and apparently he succeeded in temporarily kicking the four out of the train at the stop at Schweglergasse. Finally, as the train reached the Zieglergasse heading towards Stephansplatz, the group left the subway for good.

Many witnesses took photos of the suspects — the four youths have been reported, and the search for them is underway.

Security measures for exactly these types of incidents

According to the spokesman for the police, Thomas Keiblinger, the youths were of high school age. “We have security measures in the train and at the platforms for exactly these types of incidents when passengers don’t feel safe anymore,” Daniel Amann, the spokesperson for the Vienna subway, added. With these emergency security measures which are located on the trains as well as in so-called “SOS-cubes” on the platforms, a passenger can directly reach and talk to the train engineer or the control room. In an emergency people shouldn’t be shy about using these measures.