AMSTETTEN (Austria), May 8: As the sun set on the main square of Amstetten on Wednesday, residents of the town, tired of the international notoriety Austria’s horror incest case has given it, gathered to show solidarity with the victims and press for a return to normality.

Schoolchildren unrolled a dozen banners with messages to Elisabeth Fritzl and the children she bore with her own father during 24 years of sexual abuse in a windowless cellar.

Josef Fritzl, 73, admitted last week to locking up and sexually abusing his now 42-year-old daughter Elisabeth for 24 years, fathering seven children with her.

Three of them were held captive with their mother, spending their entire lives in the cellar and never seeing sunlight, while the other three -- a 12-year-old boy and two girls, aged 14 and 15 -- were raised by their “grandparents”, living a normal life and going to school. A seventh child died shortly after birth.

“Wishing you strength on your path through life”, “We’re with you”, “It was hell for you, now we wish you lots of sunlight”, said some of the large white banners being held up by residents of all ages.

Over 500 people gathered on the main square of Amstetten as dusk fell.

But alongside messages of hope and solidarity, there was also criticism about society’s indifference in cases of abuse and the media’s vilification of this small town in recent days.—AFP