Solingen festival attack heightens fears of radical Islamist youth action

The 650th anniversary celebrations in the German city of Solingen this weekend took a dramatic turn when a man stabbed three people to death at a party on Friday night. Four others were seriously injured in what may have been a terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State.

On Saturday evening, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. On Saturday evening, police announced the arrest of a suspect. This concerns a 26-year-old Syrian man who came to Germany in late 2022.

Hundreds of police officers have been searching for the perpetrators in the area and in Solingen, north of Cologne, since Friday evening. On Saturday, police arrested a 15-year-old boy who they suspected of having knowledge of the attack. In the evening, police raided a center for asylum seekers in Solingen, just a few hundred meters from the square where the attack took place. According to CDU Interior Minister Herbert Ruhl, the suspect did live there, but the raid was unsuccessful; the suspect later reported the crime to police. German media said security services were not aware that the suspect was a fundamentalist Muslim.

Knife in the neck

Starting Friday, Solingen will celebrate the city’s 650th anniversary with music playing in various parts of the city. An eyewitness told the ARD TV channel that he was standing in front of the stage at Fronhofplatz when he was hit in the neck with a knife and then saw how the assailant deliberately stabbed someone in the neck from the front. According to the victim, the assailant was short and agile. His wounds seemed superficial and could be sutured. Two men, aged 56 and 67, and a 56-year-old woman were killed. Six people were injured, four of them seriously.

In a message, ISIS said it wanted to “take revenge” on “Christians” in Solingen for the fate the attack had brought upon “Muslims in Palestine and around the world.” According to the translation Historian Aymenn al-Tammimi’s account of an Islamic State message. The attorney general is investigating whether the suspect did have contact with the Islamic State, but this has not yet been confirmed.

Minister Ruhl stressed that the terrorist threat has been high for several months. “In recent weeks and months, we have already thwarted four or five attacks, many of which were planned by young people.”

according to A blog Terrorism expert Peter Neumann (King’s College) said the threat of jihadist terrorist attacks has increased fourfold since 2022. To reach this conclusion, Neumann pointed out that since October 2023, there have been six attacks in Western Europe, and at least 22 attacks have been thwarted in the same period. Neumann said that nearly two-thirds of the suspects are teenagers who became radicalized through social media.

Discussions about new knife legislation in Germany have been ongoing for some time following a number of fatal stabbings. In late May, a 25-year-old man of Afghan origin stabbed an anti-Islamic activist with a knife, and a police officer in Mannheim was killed when he intervened. In June, a 27-year-old Afghan man stabbed one person to death and injured several others at a European Championships in an allotment garden in the town of Wollmerstedt.

6 cm blade

At the beginning of August, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Fesser (SPD) proposed a ban on knives with blades longer than six centimeters in public places. Currently, knives with a blade length of 12 centimeters or more are only regulated by the Weapons Act; knives below that length are permitted. Fesser’s proposal was criticized at the time because it would be difficult to implement. But on Saturday, Fesser received the support of her colleague, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also called for stricter laws: “No one in Germany needs to have cutting or stabbing weapons in public places. We are no longer living in the Middle Ages.”

exist One column A few days ago, expert Neumann pointed out in an interview with the Daily Mirror that a knife ban alone can be part of the fight against terrorism, but as the only measure it will not have much impact.

Right-wing parties and the media have been talking about the so-called dangers “Swordsman”Due to the number of fatal incidents, such as the newspaper accounts Bild The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) believes that the number of violent crimes involving knives has increased significantly. Many experts believe that there is no solid evidence for this claim. According to German police data, there were about 9,000 knife-related incidents in 2023, 800 more than in 2022. Criminologist Elena Rausch previously reported this statistic. Side note This increase corresponds to an increase in all violent crimes in Germany, so the knife is not more popular than before. In addition, knives are most often used in domestic conflicts.

In Solingen, flowers and candles have been placed at the Fronhof since Saturday morning. The city’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach, expressed “shock, dismay and great sadness” on Friday evening. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wurst (CDU) said the attack “struck us in the heart”. Interior Minister Fesser stressed that “we will not allow ourselves to be dispersed at a moment like this”. In interviews with Solingen residents in the German media, many mentioned a great sense of insecurity. Many also recalled an earlier attack in the city: in May 1993, five women and girls of Turkish origin were killed in a far-right arson attack.

Next week, the states of Thuringia and Saxony will hold elections. The AfD is leading in the polls and the party is clearly looking to consolidate its position after the attack in Solingen. Bjorn Hoch, leader of the Thuringian AfD wrote In Saxony, the AfD appears to be able to beat the CDU by a narrow margin, which puts the Christian Democrats largely responsible. wrote The party: “The CDU deliberately allowed this to happen. The CDU (…) stands for open borders and more immigration.”

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