Germany’s far-right AfD party on Monday held what it called a “commemoration meeting” for the victims of a car ram attack at a Christmas market that has reignited debate over migrant and security policies.
Meanwhile, an anti-extremist initiative called ‘Don’t give hate a chance’ gathered nearby in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where five people were killed and more than 200 injured in Friday’s massacre.
“Terror has arrived in our city,” said AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt state Jan Wenzel Schmidt, condemning what he called the “monstrous political failure” that led to the attack, for which a Saudi man was arrested.
“We must close the borders,” he told hundreds of anti-immigration party supporters. “We can no longer take in lunatics from all over the world.”
The party’s co-leader, Alice Weidel, demanded “change so we can finally live in safety again,” as people in the crowd chanted, “Deport, deport, deport!”
The anti-AfD initiative said in a message that “we are all shocked and angry to see that people want to exploit this brutal act for their own political purposes” and called for “tolerance and humanity.”
As Germany mourned the dead – four women and a nine-year-old boy – Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government faced angry questions about possible mistakes and missed warnings about the Saudi suspect arrested at the scene of Friday’s attack.
These concerns were fueled by news that Saudi Arabia had warned Germany about its citizen Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, who came to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status a decade later.
Riyadh had warned Berlin “many times” that the psychiatrist and activist “could be dangerous”, a source close to the Saudi government told AFP, adding that “there was an (extradition) request”.
– Surprised by motive –
Police were still trying to figure out why the driver drove a rented SUV at high speed through the crowd of revelers, causing death and chaos at the festive event.
Abdulmohsen had expressed strong anti-Islam views, anger at German authorities and support for far-right conspiracy stories about the “Islamization” of Europe in his many online posts.
The daily Die Welt reported, citing unnamed security sources, that Abdulmohsen had been treated for a mental illness in the past, but this has not been confirmed by authorities.
The Saudi suspect has been taken into custody at a high-security facility on five murder charges and 205 attempted murder charges, prosecutors said, but so far not on terrorism-related charges.
Although the attacker’s motive remained unclear, the attack has brought the flashpoints of security and immigration back to the center of German politics ahead of the February 23 elections.
The massive daily Bild wrote that “although the background to the terrible attack in Magdeburg has not yet been clarified, it is already clear: there will be a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ in this election campaign.”
– ‘Weakest link’ –
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has promised that “no stone will be left unturned” to shed light on information available about Abdulmohsen in the past.
She emphasized that the attacker “did not fit any previous pattern” because “he behaved like an Islamist terrorist, even though ideologically he was clearly an enemy of Islam.”
The Association of German Detectives warned that “it is still too early to draw hasty conclusions or even formulate political demands.”
German Christmas markets – one of the country’s most iconic and beloved festive events – have been under special security since a jihadist attacker rammed a truck through a truck in Berlin in 2016, killing 13 people.
Police have also stepped up gun checks after several deadly knife attacks, including one that killed three people and injured eight during a summer festival in the western city of Solingen.
The suspect, a 26-year-old Syrian man with suspected ties to Islamic State, had evaded attempts to deport him.
The market in Magdeburg was also secured with police and heavy barricades, but the attacker managed to exploit a five-metre gap when he steered his rented BMW SUV into the area and then rammed into the unsuspecting crowd.
“A security concept is only as strong as its weakest link,” terrorism expert Peter Neumann told the weekly Der Spiegel. “If one access point remains unprotected, all other concrete posts are of no use.”
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