Outrage Over Austrian Coalition

Austria's new governing coalition -- including a party that espouses hatred for immigrants and admiration for Adolph Hitler -- took power Friday, triggering diplomatic sanctions and egg-throwing protests that forced the new ministers to leave their swearing-in via an underground tunnel.

President Thomas Klestil, who swore in the new center-right coalition, appealed to the world to give the new government a chance to fulfill its promises to govern under European standards of democracy and human rights.

As the ministers were taking their oaths, some 5,000 protesters massed outside the presidential offices, pelting the police with eggs and paint.

Protester Wilhelm Popovic said he was showing his opposition "in the name of my father," who spent seven years in a Nazi concentration camp "because of policies like this."

Later, protesters briefly took over the Social Affairs Ministry and destroyed several police cars. A police official, Peter Stiedl, said 25 officers were slightly injured in clashes with demonstrators. Small protests took place in Linz, Graz, and Innsbruck.

Israel's ambassador flew home hours before the coalition of the center-right Austrian People's Party and Hitler-hailing Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party took office.

And one by one, the 14 nations sharing European Union membership with Austria started reducing diplomatic ties, cancelling contracts and official visits and freezing high-level contacts. Secretary of State Albright said U.S. Ambassador Kathryn Walt-Hall would leave for Washington to report and then return to Vienna to monitor the crisis.

Klestil repeatedly had warned that Freedom Party participation in government would produce a fierce reaction because of Haider's anti-foreigner stand, opposition to European Union expansion and his past praise of Nazi policies.

Haider won international notoriety for statements praising Hitler's "orderly employment" policies and lauding veterans of the feared Waffen SS as "decent people of good character" - comments for which he since has apologized.

But Klestil said he had little choice but to approve the governing coalition. In the October 3 elections, the People's Party and Freedom Party won 104 of the 183 parliament seats.

Klestil expressed "concern and dismay" over the negative foreign reaction and domestic turmoil.

The new government will give the far right wing a greater voice in Austrian policies than in any other European country.

Haider is not part of the new government and remains governor od Carinthia province. But critics fear he will influence government policies from the wings.