The suspected Islamist attack last week in Solingen , which killed three and wounded eight , has hit the entire country at its core , German President Frank – Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday at a memorial ceremony for the victims . This act of bloodshed strikes at the heart of ” a friendly , open and diverse country ,” he told roughly 450 gathered to commemorate the attack , which took place last Friday at a city festival commemorating the 650th anniversary of the municipality and promoting diversity . ” 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 . Also attending the funeral services were Chancellor Olaf Scholz
, Bundestag President B ä rbel Bas , North Rhine – Westphalia ‘ s ( NRW ) Premier Hendrik W st and the state ‘ s Interior Minister Herbert Reul . 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 with fear . A 26 – year – old Syrian man who was living in a nearby refugee residence was arrested in the wake of the stabbing rampage . He is being held on suspicion of murder , suspected membership in the Islamic State terrorist group 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 dep
ortation order in Germany , something that has helped fuel a bitter debate in the country over asylum and migration policy . Scholz ‘ s government proposed stricter rules on weapons , tight new limits on benefits for 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 . dpa wa xxde mew mls
Source: The Namibia News Agency