Germany should continue to value the right of asylum but must take steps to limit irregular migration , German President Frank – Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday at a memorial service for victims of a suspected Islamist attack last week in Solingen . Germany ” for good reason ” has offered a refuge and safety to those fleeing warfare and oppression , as many Germans only managed to survive the Nazi regime because other countries opened their doors , Steinmeier said . ” We want to remain that country . And we can only remain so in the end if we are not overwhelmed by the number of those who ( come ) without the right to this special protection ,” Steinmeier told roughly 450 gathered mourners . A 26 – year – old Syrian man who was living in a nearby refugee residence was arrested in the wake of the stabbing rampage , which killed three people and injured eight others at a local festival in the western German city . He is being held on suspicion of murder , suspected membership in the Islamic State terrorist gr
oup and other charges . The Islamic State is claiming responsibility for the attack , but German authorities are still investigating the claim . The suspected attacker is believed to have evaded a deportation order in Germany , something that has helped fuel a bitter debate in the country over asylum and migration policy . ” And we will only remain this country if those seeking protection abide by the laws of our country . Only then will we be able to maintain acceptance among the population ,” Steinmeier said on Sunday . The president called for the government and the political opposition to work together to achieve the ” huge task ” of enforcing immigration laws and creating workable rules to manage migration and asylum claims . Attack hit ‘ core of our national identity ‘ Steinmeier said that the act of bloodshed strikes at the heart of ” a friendly , open and diverse country ,” he said . ” It strikes us at the core of our national identity in which people live together peacefully despite all differences
and want to live together – people who have lived here for generations as well as those who have arrived later ,” Steinmeier said at the service in the city ‘ s performing arts theatre . In his eulogy , the German president said the perpetrator was targeting , with his hatred , just as others have before him , this way of life . In his eulogy , Steinmeier acknowledged that the German state had failed to keep ” its promise of protection and security ” in Solingen , and that any mistakes or shortcomings that failed to prevent the attack must be dealt wiht comprehensively . Steinmeier , who had spoken privately to the relatives of those killed and injured , said he could hardly imagine what the families and friends ” are going through , what you must be suffering , what hell you are going through .” He charged that ” fanatical Islamists want to destroy what we love ” including an open society . While he acknowledged that people ” feel fear and uncertainty ,” residents must not allow themselves to be paralysed wi
th fear . Scholz : Germany must ‘ learn lessons ‘ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz , who also took part in the memorial service , said in a post on X afterwards that the crime ” hits us in the heart , it makes us angry .” ” We owe it to them [ the victims ] and their families to learn lessons from this ,” Scholz wrote . ” We mourn the dead of Solingen . We mourn with their families , with everyone in this city , with everyone in Germany .” Scholz ‘ s government proposed stricter rules on weapons , tight new limits on benefits for some asylum seekers and greater police powers to address suspected Islamist threats in the wake of the attack . On Friday – for the first time since the Taliban retook power – a deportation flight to Afghanistan took off from Germany ‘ s Leipzig / Halle Airport with 28 convicted Afghan criminals on board . Also attending the memorial services were the president of Germany ‘ s parliament , the Bundestag , B ä rbel Bas ; the state premier of North Rhine Westphalia , Hendrik W st ; and
the state ‘ s Interior Minister Herbert Reul . dpa wa xxde mew mls bst era
Source: The Namibia News Agency