Austria’s first openly gay politician was reportedly sprayed with butyric acid while giving an interview on the sidelines of Vienna’s gay pride parade on Sunday.
According to reports, Ulrike Lunacek and the camera crew surrounding her were unharmed in the assault. For what it’s worth, Wikipedia notes that the topical application of butyric acid is non-lethal and that it’s most commonly found in cheeses and goat milk, making it a prime ingredient for stink bombs.
The substance caused around €50,000 (~$67,723) damage to the camera equipment.
Lunacek, leader of the Austrian Greens’ delegation to the EU parliament, addressed the incident later that day in a speech at Vienna’s City Hall.
According to the Local:
“Never before has there been an attack at the Rainbow Parade,” said Lunacek at the end of the event at Vienna’s City Hall. These kinds of isolated cases showed that the fight for tolerance, acceptance and respect in Austria was not over. People who spread fear and hate needed to be opposed, she added. Homosexuals and transgender people needed to combat fear and show that they were not only part of society, but at the centre of it, said the EU MP.
The assailant, described as wearing a white polo shirt, having dark hair and “a rather solid stature,” miraculously got away in the crowd of 150,000+ revelers.
Earlier this month, three gay men were sprayed in the face with bleach outside a nightclub in London. Unlike Lunacek, they faced life-altering conditions and could deal with scarring for the rest of their lives.
