Ulrike Lunacek, Austria’s first openly gay MEP, was sprayed with acid while giving an interview at the Rainbow Parade in Vienna.
Barbara Riehs, spokeswoman for the police, told The Local that the attacker had not been found, but he has been described as wearing a white polo shirt, with dark hair and “solid stature.”
Lunacek and the TV crew were sprayed with butyric acid, which can cause pain, blistering and skin burns as well as blindness if exposed to the eyes. However, nobody was harmed in the attack.
After the attack, Lunacek made the following comments: ““Never before has there been an attack at the Rainbow Parade..”
“These kinds of isolated cases show that the fight for tolerance, acceptance and respect in Austria is not over.
“Homosexuals and transgender people needed to combat fear and show that they were not only part of society, but at the centre of it.”
According to The Local, around 150,000 people took part ion the Rainbow Parade, and around 50 took part in a counter demonstration called “March for the Family”.
