Solingen attack: what's going on in Germany?
Three people were killed and several more injured at a festival celebrating diversity and the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany on Friday. The suspected perpetrator, a Syrian national thought to be a supporter of the Islamic State, is said to have deliberately stabbed the victims' necks and upper bodies. A heated debate about the causes and consequences has ensued.
Safety must be the top priority
Welt newspaper is dissatisfied with the reactions from politicians:
“No one has mentioned the obvious: that Germany – like many countries in Europe – has a problem with young, violent men from Muslim societies. ... What can be done? A ban on carrying knives in public places wouldn't hurt, but it won't deter those who are determined. The police and intelligence services need to be better equipped to search the internet for radicalised people as quickly as possible. Mosques must pass on information if they observe indications of such changed behaviour among members of their congregation. And if a person has been designated for deportation, it should be possible to detain them until they are deported. The safety of the citizens must be the top priority.”
Knives are not to blame
Germany has only tackled the symptoms rather than the root causes so far, Lidové noviny admonishes:
“Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to ban the carrying of knives with blades longer than six centimetres in public places. But now three people have been stabbed and many others injured in Solingen, at a celebration marking the city's anniversary and diversity. The suspect is a Syrian, and the Islamic State is claiming responsibility. Who is to blame? The knives? Or those who use them to attack? ... CDU state interior ministers began publishing reports on the relationship between the number of foreigners and the proportion of crimes committed by them. ... They said the country should stop concealing the nationality of perpetrators. Will Germany finally start to take its security seriously?”
Riddled with extremism
The Solingen attack reminds La Repubblica of the debates in 2015/2016:
“The spectre of a scourge that made headlines a decade ago, at the height of the refugee crisis, during Angela Merkel's 'We can handle this' era, has resurfaced in this working-class city. ... Back then, a parallel world emerged in the industrialised area which migrants had been coming to for at least two centuries. ... That of the radical communities of Salafist Islamists. ... The latest wave of refugees is partly driven by extremism, mixed with second or even third generation Turks who have never felt accepted in German society. Young people who have been seduced by radical preachers in mosques or converted to terrorist Islam via the Internet.”
A tense mood
Rzeczpospolita predicts that the AfD will get a boost in the upcoming state elections in eastern Germany:
“Friday's attack may help the far right. AfD politicians and their supporters are already writing about it on social media under the hashtag 'Solingen'. They will use the events in the western German city of Solingen to secure more support in the final days of the election campaign in the eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia (the elections take place next Sunday, 1 September). The issue of immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, has already stirred up a lot of resentment there, even without the terrorist attacks.”