BERLIN (AP) — Authorities announced Sunday that over 50 individuals were detained after violent confrontations between police and demonstrators intending to disrupt a march attended by hundreds of far-right activists in the Austrian capital.

The protests, which unfolded on Saturday, occurred as Austria's political landscape heats up ahead of the September parliamentary elections, where significant gains by far-right parties are widely anticipated.

According to the Austrian Press Agency, anti-fascist movements and left-wing political factions had called for protests in response to a rally led by identitarian groups and other hard-right activists. Social media images showcased right-wing supporters in central Vienna carrying banners that promoted "remigration," a term advocating for the mass return of foreign migrants to their home countries.

Heavy police presence was noted, with hundreds of officers deployed to prevent clashes between rival groups, both of which numbered in the hundreds. APA, citing city authorities, reported that 43 protesters were taken into temporary custody for refusing to leave a sit-in protest that blocked the march.

An additional 10 individuals were arrested after masked participants threw projectiles such as rocks and bottles. In the aftermath, three police officers were hurt, and a patrol car sustained damage, authorities reported.

Austria’s Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, a conservative politician, vowed that law enforcement would pursue legal action against criminal behavior seen during such demonstrations, whether the offenses are carried out by "left- or right-wing extremists" or other disruptors of democracy.

On September 29, Austrians will cast their votes in elections, with expectations high that a shift to the right will continue, as seen across Europe. The far-right Freedom Party recently outperformed the conservative People’s Party in European Parliamentary elections.

Politicians from left-wing groups, including the Greens — current coalition partners of the conservatives — and the opposition Social Democrats, have repeatedly expressed concerns that the inclusion of the Freedom Party in government could pave the way for greater radicalism.

“Their goal is nothing less than the destruction of our pluralist democratic society,” warned Eva Blimlinger, a spokesperson for the Greens.