Muslim heroes hailed for saving lives in Vienna attack

A Palestinian McDonald’s manager and two Turkish-origin MMA-fighters risked their lives to save others

A Palestinian immigrant and two young Austrians of Turkish origin are being hailed as heroes for their extraordinary display of courage during Monday’s terrorist attack in Vienna.

23-year-old Palestinian Osama Joda is a restaurant manager of a fast food chain in the Austrian capital.

Joda risked his life to help a police officer who was shot by a terrorist in Vienna’s city center. He told daily Kurier that he heard several gunshots while working in his restaurant at Schwedenplatz square.

After seeing a police officer wounded, he helped him to hide behind a concrete block, tried to stop the bleeding, and alerted other police officers.

While the assailant continued shooting at people on the street, Joda helped bringing the wounded police officer to an ambulance.

The Vienna Police thanked Joda by honouring him with a police patch.

“The terrorist was 20 metres away from me,” Joda told Al Jazeera on a video call, visibly upset.

When two policemen came to his aid, the attacker opened fire on them and struck an officer. Joda and his colleague ducked behind a tree, then behind a concrete bench.

“We pulled the injured officer aside. I immediately looked for the wound and tried to stop the bleeding with my hand. That did not help. So, I took off my jumper and tried to stop the bleeding with that instead. After 15 minutes the ambulance came.

“The assassin was still nearby. I went to the ambulance, but they were all in shock, they couldn’t move. I went back to the policeman. I was in shock myself and don’t remember who was standing next to me. But all of a sudden two young men came and helped to bring the wounded to safety.”

The two young men were Mikail Özen, 25, and Recep Gültekin, 21, two Viennese mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters with Turkish family background.

After helping an elderly lady, they saw the wounded policeman.

A mobile phone video recorded from a balcony shows the pair running behind a subway entrance as shots continued to be fired.

“I would do the same thing again today,” Özen told Al Jazeera by phone on Tuesday, having just returned from a meeting with the mayor of Vienna, who thanked the two men for their courage.

Four people were killed and several wounded in the attack, which was carried out by 20-year-old dual Austrian Macedonian national Kujtim Fejzulai.

Joda, the young McDonald’s manager, said he has previously been the victim of Islamophobia.

After years of living in Vienna, his Palestinian family wanted to buy a house in the municipality of Weikendorf. But their plan did not work out.

The municipality had “no interest” in the family moving in, the mayor announced. Muslims would not fit into Weikendorf.

The case went to the highest court. In the end, the Jodas won.

Today, he hopes people will be more open-minded.

After giving his testimony at the police station, officers gave him a “police” patch to thank him.

“I will keep this patch for the rest of my life,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Al Jazeera