Work has already begun and includes a police station, the district police headquarters and a branch of the security academy where officers will receive human rights training, according to local press.

Today, workers built fences and took measures for the construction work.

The project was questioned until 2017 when the supreme court ruled that the Government was within its rights to expropriate the building after its owner refused to sell it.

The Austrian Government claims the transfer to police functions, is the best use for the building, but the project is not without its critics.

According to Florian Kotanko, “there is a total lack of historical contextualization.” The Interior Ministry’s intention to eliminate the “recognition factor” by remodeling is impossible to fulfill.

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