German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the western city of Solingen on Monday, three days after a fatal stabbing shocked the country and reignited debate over Germany’s migration policy and tougher knife laws.
After laying a white rose at the crime scene, Scholz said he was “furious” and demanded that the suspected perpetrator, a 26-year-old Syrian man who has been taken into custody, be punished.
“We feel deeply what a terrible crime this is. It affects us all and none of us will forget it,” Scholz said.
“This was terrorism. Terrorism against all of us, a threat to our lives, our sense of community, the way we live,” the Chancellor added.
The attack took place Friday night during a festival celebrating the city’s 650th anniversary.
According to the local police chief, two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman were killed and eight others were injured, four of them seriously.
A judge has issued an arrest warrant for the Syrian man on suspicion of murder and membership of the terrorist group Islamic State, the Federal Public Prosecution Service reported on Sunday.
Police found traces of the suspect’s DNA on the weapon used in the attack, sources close to the investigation told dpa. The 15-centimeter-long knife was found a few hundred meters from the crime scene.
Herbert Reul, Interior Minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Rheinische Post newspaper that the knife sheath was found in the refugee shelter where the suspect was staying.
The dead and wounded were stabbed in the neck and upper body.
Scholz visits crime scene
Scholz’s visit to Solingen included a memorial service for the victims at the site of the attack and talks with the city’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach.
The Chancellor was accompanied by the Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst.
In his remarks at the scene, Scholz lashed out at Islamists who “threaten peaceful coexistence.”
“We will not allow our community spirit to be destroyed by evil criminals who adhere to the worst ideologies, and we will act against them with the utmost precision and severity,” the German leader vowed.
The stabbing in Solingen, which came just over a week before key state elections in Saxony and Thuringia where the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to achieve strong results, has reignited discussions about reforms to knife laws and asylum rules.
The suspect, who arrived in Germany in 2022, was reportedly set to be deported to Bulgaria under the European Union’s Dublin Regulation, but police were unable to locate him.
Scholz said he wants to increase deportations “if necessary with legal regulations” and called for “consistent, practical enforcement” of existing laws.
Chancellor under political pressure
Scholz promised a tough approach to the suspect, but his statements are unlikely to please political opponents who want to tackle illegal migration.
Wüst of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said the attack would have consequences.
“The question is whether people who do not have permanent residence should be able to leave this country more easily – or preferably not come at all,” he said.
Deadlines, bureaucratic hurdles and loopholes make it difficult for local governments to deport people, even to other countries in Europe, the state’s premier argued.
According to Wüst, deportations to parts of Syria and Afghanistan should also be possible.
His comments were echoed by Reul, the state’s interior minister, who on Monday called for stricter controls at Germany’s borders and for turning away refugees.
“I believe there is no other way,” Herbert Reul said on public radio station Deutschlandfunk.
The German opposition has stepped up its anti-immigration rhetoric following the attack, with CDU leader Friedrich Merz calling for an immediate halt to the admission of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.
Scholz promises reform of knife legislation
Scholz also promised to tighten laws regarding the carrying of deadly weapons.
“This must and will happen very quickly,” Scholz said during his visit to Solingen.
Scholz said he was confident that the German parliament would quickly approve a bill.
