Germany Chancellor, Angela Markel said the attackers wanted to undermine our sense of community, our openness and our willingness to help people in need.
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Referring to the attacks that have taken place in France, Belgium, Turkey, the U.S. and elsewhere, she said “taboos of civilisation” had been broken, and they were meant to “spread fear and hatred between cultures and between religions”. She addressed her tag-phrase, “we can do this”, which she first used at last summer’s press conference.
The country has been rocked by four brutal incidents in a week that have left 10 innocent people dead – with three carried out by asylum seekers.
Referring to the four terror attacks in Germany since July 18 and deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and in the USA state of Florida, Merkel said that “taboos of civilization” had been broken, when attackers targeted public places “where any of us could have been”, Merkel said.
Opponents have criticised her for allowing in a million migrants and, they say, jeopardising national security.
She added that Germany owes that to the victims, their relatives, its own security and also “to all the many innocent refugees”.
While Merkel has been criticized for the amount of refugees that Germany has taken in, most western countries, including Germany, have taken in a very small percentage of asylum seekers that exist, with many more seeking shelter in poor countries such as Turkey and Lebanon.
On the same day, a Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a Polish woman in the southwestern city of Reutlingen in what was likely a crime of passion.
While insisting Germany would remain open to those in need of asylum, the chancellor acknowledged that Islamic State had sought to take advantage of the refugee influx.
“Taboos of civilisation are being broken”, she said.
“The attacks are harrowing, depressing and depraved”, Merkel said, adding that “terrorists want to destroy our ability to live together harmoniously”. For two of the assaults Islamic State claimed responsibility. Two attackers were asylum seekers with links to Islamist militants. “The people are rightfully expecting that we boldly meet this challenge”.
“We are awaiting urgent action from the federal government and Europe – now is the time to act”.
Political pressure and criticism surrounding her absence from public debate after the attacks in Germany are among the reasons why Merkel interrupted this summer holiday and moved up the large press event she usually holds later in the summer. She ruled out big changes to her refugee policy, despite a series of attacks.
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The chancellor focused on two attacks committed by asylum seekers in Bavaria that officials say have a connection with Islamic State terrorism, in which one assailant blew himself up at a music festival and another was gunned down by police after he attacked people on a train with an ax.
