After the general election held months ago, the current leader of the far-right FPO party, Herbert Kickl, received a mandate last Saturday to form a new government. Yesterday evening, the Austrian civil society network organised a national protest in the form of a human chain, under the motto “Alarm for the Republic! Defend democracy”. The promoters, including Diakonie Austria, Caritas and Catholic Action Austria, urged everyone to “stand together for media freedom, an independent judiciary, human rights and social cohesion”. The President of Caritas Europa, Mgr Michael Landau, called for an Austria based on the rule of law, democracy and human dignity. “When significant parts of a country seem to no longer be able to speak the language of dialogue, compromise and respect, when it is more and more apparent that ideology and party interests matter more than national interests, then this must alarm us all”. European integration “has brought democracy and prosperity to a large part of the population”. Yet, Mgr Landau said, “today we experience new dividing lines: not barbed wires, but polarised trenches running through our societies”. Once again, the “spectre of populism” is “haunting Europe”. “Democracy and fundamental rights, the protection of minorities and the protection of the marginalised: […] all this can no longer be taken for granted”. Mgr Landau invited citizens to “remain vigilant”.