Austrian province faces controversy over kosher meat

Proposals in an Austrian province for possible restrictions on the slaughter of animals according to Jewish and Muslim religious customs are drawing strong criticism.

An official in Lower Austria province, Gottfried Waldhaeusl of the nationalist Freedom Party, tells the Wiener Zeitung newspaper “we are examining whether the demand for meat can be coupled to residency.” He says he objects to people from nearby Vienna coming to have animals slaughtered.

A top official with Austria’s center-left opposition Social Democrats, Max Lercher, says that Waldhaeusl planned to make Jews who want to eat kosher meat register and called it “a clearly anti-Semitic demand.” Vienna’s Jewish community was also critical.

Klaus Schneeberger of the conservative People’s Party, which leads the regional government, tells the Austria Press Agency that authorities wouldn’t establish any such register.

— AP