Austrian Politician calls Asylum Seekers “Cave Men”

An Austrian politician from the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has triggered a stir in the country’s parliament following publically calling asylum seekers “cave men”, Reuters noted Saturday. Religious Hoebart criticized a move presented by mainly African asylum seekers in Traiskirchen, sharing his view on Facebook late Friday.

“I (could not) show understanding for yesterday’s brouhaha of asylum seekers from Africa, so I called (them) emotionally… ‘soil and cave men’, who cannot appreciate how good they’ve got it with us – their host country Austria,” Hoebart shared his thoughts via social media, as quoted by Reuters.

The politician’s words caused a stir among other members of the Austrian parliament. Some called for his resignation.
“To call humans that maybe fled from murder and rape of Islamic State murder gangs in Iraq and Syria ‘soil and cave men’ is open racism,” said Albert Steinhauser from the Austrian Green Party, as quoted by the Irish Times.
Hoebert, however, was quick to defend his words, stating that by “cave men” he simply meant fellow humans who were “many, many years behind our culture,” the Irish Times said.
Austria received around 17,500 asylum requests in 2013.