The Austrian opposition Greens demanded an inquiry on Thursday into the death of a 33-year-old African man in police custody this week.
Greens member of Parliament Terezija Stoisits said the death of the Mauritanian citizen, named only as Cheibani W, was a case for the Austrian Human Rights Consultative Committee.
Many questions had been raised that must be answered as quickly as possible in the interests of the dead man’s relatives as well as the police, she said.
The Mauritanian died early on Tuesday morning, but his death was only made known after considerable delay.
Press reports said the Austrian manager of a Viennese hostel for Africans, where Cheibani W had worked as a night watchman, had given him notice for ”unreliability”.
The Mauritanian reacted violently, and police and an ambulance were called to the scene, said the reports.
The official police account said Cheibani W attacked the manager so violently that he had to be handcuffed and put in an ambulance for transport to a psychiatric hospital. The Mauritanian jumped out of the ambulance and ”attacked police and ambulance men”.
He was then held to the ground by police while a doctor gave him a tranquiliser injection. He suddenly lost consciousness in the ambulance, briefly revived, but died soon after admission to hospital, said the police statement.
Treatment of Africans by police is a sensitive issue in Austria. In 1999 there were months of outrage following the suffocation to death of a 25-year-old Nigerian man during his deportation by Austrian police. – Sapa-DPA