2.7.3 Manifestations against the 2014 Vienna Academics Ball and the excesses of the “Black Bloc” As they do every year, the Vienna commissions observed the police operation during the manifestations against the Vienna Academics Ball in 2014. This is certainly an extremely difficult operation. The NPM will not comment on the tactical operation principles. However, it should be noted in a positive sense that the police department of Vienna endeavoured to make a critical evaluation in order to obtain the best possible information for the operation the following year. In the course of their observations, the commissions primarily criticised the encirclement of the crowd by the police. Loudspeaker announcements by the police were not acoustically audible so that the encircled persons did not know how they were expected to behave. A lack of computers meant that identification took more than two hours in some cases. The Academy of Fine Arts located near the scene was having an open house when the building was encircled by police. The guests were unable to leave the event, since there was a lack of equipment in this case, too, and ambiguous information was provided. As a consequence, many guests could not leave the event until after midnight. A lack of information when the crowd was encircled In this regard, the NPM reminded the Federal Ministry of the Interior of a recommendation of the former Human Rights Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of the Interior containing guidelines for encirclement which are in conformity with human rights. The Federal Ministry of the Interior assured the employees that it would remind itself of this recommendation for implementing encirclement. Another point of criticism by the NPM related to the use of pepper spray, which was a disproportionate reaction according to the commissions. In the opinion of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the use of pepper spray in the given situation was the least severe means of control. Nevertheless, the Federal Ministry of the Interior took up the suggestion of the NPM regarding the use of pepper spray, so as to further and more permanently sensitise the task forces in similar situations. Use of pepper spray The NPM also complained that sometimes commission members had difficulties in gaining access to operation areas. The police department of Vienna took this criticism of the NPM as a reason to again remind the task forces of the identity and authority of the commission members. In contact with the demonstrators, a greater use of the “3 D strategy” (Dialogue – De-escalation – Drastic Measures) so successfully employed at EURO 2008 would have been advantageous. In this 143 Dialogue/deescalation/drastic measures