Vienna, January 9 (RHC)-- Austria could be ruled by a far-right government for the first time since World War II after the leader of the extreme-right Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, was tasked with forming a new ruling coalition. 

This comes after Austria’s main centrist parties failed to establish their own coalition government.  The Freedom Party won Austria’s parliamentary elections in September on a nationalist, anti-immigrant platform, sending shockwaves throughout Europe. 

The political party was founded in the wake of World War II by former Nazis.  

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Vienna Monday.  One organizer of the protest said: 
“Persecution of marginalized groups, mass deportations, cuts to social benefits, a return of a fascist state.  We say that we have learned something from our history, but then at the same time we elect a chancellor like Kickl and leave him in power.  We have learned nothing from the past.”

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW ]