Austria has rejected plans requiring Jews to register before they can buy kosher meat, after a far-right politician proposed introducing stricter controls.
Gottfried Waldhaeusl, a cabinet minister of Lower Austria and member of the Freedom Party (FPOe), made headlines this week when he called for tougher measures, including registration, to rein in the slaughtering of animals without first stunning them.
He said it was needed for "animal protection", adding registration would ensure ritual slaughtering was done only for those who show they belong to a religious community and need the meat.
But Austrian government spokemsan Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said on Friday the country would "protect the freedoms and fundamental rights of our Jewish fellow citizens and can assure that they will be upheld and in no way limited".
Austria's Jewish and Muslim community groups condemned the proposal.
A coalition of the centre-right People's Party (OeVP) and the far-right FPOe has governed Austria since December after winning votes on an anti-immigration platform.
On Thursday, a man was arrested after assaulting three people, with at least one of them wearing Jewish headgear, in Vienna.
Following the attack, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the OeVP said on Twitter that the government was doing "everything so that Jews can live safely in Austria and is determined to fight against any form of anti-Semitism".
Some right-wing parties in Europe have campaigned to have halal and kosher slaughter banned.
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