The alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy by an Iraqi refugee in Vienna has sparked mixed reactions: while locals feel unsafe and blame the government, pro-immigration campaigners claim such cases should not be the basis for “general mistrust.”
After the boy was allegedly brutally raped in southwestern Vienna by a 20-year-old refugee in the changing rooms at a swimming pool, people became more worried about their families’ safety in the Austrian capital. The suspected child abuser, who arrived in Austria from Iraq in September of last year, leaving a wife and a child back at home, is one of many newcomers who now prevail in their neighborhood, locals say.

“There are more migrants than Austrian families at the moment here, really huge groups of migrant people,” one woman told RT.

“We used to bring our kids swimming in this pool, [but] when we heard about the incident, after this sad story we decided to stay away,” another man said, adding: “It’s the fault of the Austrian government, because it took lots of refugees from the outside.”

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On a cold day in Portland, the water’s warm at the YMCA. It’s great news for the group of Casco Bay High School students taking their swim test.

“Swimming is a life skill. It’s a life-saving skill, and it’s essential,” said Grant Gerber, a junior on the swim team at Husson University.

Gerber returned to teach a week-long swim intensive he created when he was a student at Casco Bay High School. It’s for students who don’t have a lot, or any, swimming experience. Many of them are students who immigrated to the United States.

See WGME