A far-right party is holding a “memorial” rally for victims of car bombings that have sparked a debate over immigration and security issues.
Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has held a rally it calls a “memorial” for the victims of a car crash at a Christmas market. a heated debate on immigration and security policy.
The meeting was held on Monday outside a church in the eastern part of Magdeburg, where it is located last week's attack which killed five people and left more than 200 injured.
“Fear has reached our city,” said the AfD leader in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Jan Wenzel Schmidt, criticizing what he called a “gross political failure” that led to the attack, in which a Saudi Arabian national was arrested.
“We have to close the border,” he told hundreds of supporters of the anti-immigration party. “We can't take any more crazy people around the world.”
The leader of the party Alice Weidel described the attack as “an Islamic act full of hatred and that which creates human solidarity … for us Germans, for us Christians”.
They demanded that it be “changed so we can live in safety again”, as people in the crowd chanted: “Get out, get out, get out!”
SuspiciousTaleb al-Abdulmohsen, is facing multiple charges, including murder and attempted murder. He has lived in Germany since 2006 and has previously posted anti-immigrant and anti-Islam posts on social media, according to reports.
Although the motives have not been made public, Abdulmohsen has expressed strong anti-Islamic sentiments, angering German authorities over immigration policies. He also clearly supported far-right conspiracy theories about the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Although the suspect expressed his views, which are in line with the AfD group's anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic stance, Weidel called him an “Islamist” at the meeting – an attempt to reinforce the party's anti-immigrant views.
Friday's attack has sparked a political debate in the political arena ahead of early elections in February, where the AfD hopes to increase its position in parliament.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said “no stone will be left unturned” in revealing the findings of the 50-year-old, who had been treated for mental illness in the past, according to German newspaper Die Welt.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorist operation called “Don't Give Hate a Chance” gathered again in Magdeburg. “We are both shocked and outraged that people want to take advantage of this political situation,” it said.