Police narrowly miss catching intruders into Austrian parliament

Police narrowly missed catching intruders who broke into the Palais Epstein parliamentary building in Vienna on Sunday night, parliament Secretary-General Harald Dossi said Monday.

Early investigation indicated that three to four hooded persons entered the mansion via the roof which was accessed from a neighboring building, he told a press conference.

At about 2 a.m., an alarm was triggered, upon which the task force personnel arrived "in a short time" but were too late to catch the intruders, Dossi said.

The suspects were said to have caused considerable damage inside the building.

They damaged doors, computers, broke open cabinets and drawers and ransacked their contents. The offices damaged included those belonging to the Social Democrats, the People's Party, as well as those of the parliamentary administration, Dossi noted.

Whether anything has been stolen would be known by Tuesday, he said.

Dossi said investigators would also look into whether security measures were adequate in light of the incident. Endi