Foreign
GERMAN Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will both attend a memorial service on Sunday for victims of the fatal knife attack in the western city of Solingen.
Steffen Hebestreit, the government spokesman said the visit would be the second visit for Scholz to Solingen since the attack on August 23.
A knife-wielding attacker on that day killed three and wounded eight at a festival on the city’s market square.
On Monday, Scholz visited the scene and described the attack as an act of “terrorism against us all.”
The suspected attacker is a 26-year-old Syrian migrant who arrived in Germany via Bulgaria, and had been subject to a deportation order since 2023.
The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the crime, although German authorities are still investigating the credibility of the claim.
The attack, and the circumstances around a failed attempt to deport the suspect to Bulgaria, have reignited tense debates in Germany around asylum policy and possible reforms to EU migration rules.
Scholz’s government on Thursday announced a raft of new proposals to tighten gun laws, expand the powers of the security authorities and crack down on asylum seekers who aren’t supposed to be in the country, including by slashing social benefits. (dpa/NAN)
A.I
Aug. 30, 2024
Tags: Olaf Scholz President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
