Excerpt:
Austrian police will distribute 6,000 pocket alarms on New Year's Eve to help prevent incidents like the mass sex assaults in neighbouring Germany a year ago, the interior ministry said Tuesday.
"It's a national campaign aimed primarily at women on New Year's Eve," ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck told AFP.
If activated, the free gadgets will emit a shrill sound aimed at chasing away potential aggressors, he added.
The ministry earlier announced it would also beef up security at public events following a deadly attack at a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday evening.