Still, the welter of violence has fed into public anxiety over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015.
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Social media criticism of Merkel was especially harsh, with some people condemning her for accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants previous year.
Hussein’s many friends, who had expected him on his annual family vacation this week, have done the same tattoo on their hands: “R.I.P. Hussein 22/7/16”.
Calling the Islamic State challenge a “huge litmus test for all of Europe”, she called for greater European Union and worldwide efforts to identify radicals and crack down on weapons sales.
He pointed out that “most people who commit Islamist acts of terror are also psychologically unstable”.
“We stand firmly against that”, she said.
In the 90-minute press conference, the chancellor brushed aside calls to reverse her policies and made very clear that she had no regrets. Presenting herself as a voice of reason, she added that the recent attacks were “shocking and depressing”, but not a sign that the government had lost control.
She said, though, that the fact two men who came to Germany seeking shelter carried out attacks claimed by IS “mocks the country that took them in”.
“Fear can not be the guide for political action, ” Merkel said.
But she said that Germany had faced such challenges before, repeating the phrase “We can do it” several times.
Interrupting her holiday to hold a news conference, Merkel batted away questions about why she had not visited the scene of any of five attacks committed since July 18 that have left 15 people dead – including four attackers – and dozens injured. And in Reutlingen a refugee stabbed a woman to death.
Asylum seekers have carried out two recent attacks in Bavaria.
Yet these recent attacks will once again put immigration policy under scrutiny.
“I didn’t say this was a going to be simple”.
“We have to do more to [combat] the causes of migration”, she said.
In the Munich shooting, he noted there was no indication the gunman, born in Germany to Iranian parents, had failed to integrate in German society.
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Angela Merkel, who is now vacationing in Uckermark, intends to return to Berlin on Thursday.
