2016-08-11 18:42:00

German Interior Minister plans controversial security measures amid terror alert


(Vatican Radio) Germany's interior minister has unveiled plans to boost security after recent attacks, including making it easier to deport foreigners deemed dangerous and stripping dual nationals who fight for extremist groups of their German citizenship. Thomas de Maizière's proposals also include creating several thousand jobs at federal security services over the coming years and making "promoting terrorism" a criminal offense.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

De Maizière said his nation needs to urgently boost security after four notorious attacks last month. He announced that more than 4,600 posts in Germany’s security services would be created with an extra two billion euros in funding until 2020.

Other measures include stripping dual nationals who fight for extremists groups abroad of their German citizenship and greater use of video surveillance, notably facial recognition systems. Last year Germany accepted more than a million asylum seekers, many from war-torn nations such as Syria, and critics have said at least some extremists are among them.  

The minister also wants to strengthen German authorities' ability to probe cybercrime and the darknet, an area of cyberspace invisible on the open Internet. "Crime also takes place in cyberspace. This is why it needs to be a place of inquiry. The technical skills, and research and development to investigate cybercrime will therefore be brought together under the command of one institution for information technology," he told reporters.  

De Maizière spoke at a turbulent time for Germany.

German security forces have been busy with acts of terrorism. Two of the attacks in a week-long period starting July 18 were claimed by the Islamic State group. IS said its fighters had carried out an ax and knife rampage at a passengers train in Wuerzburg that wounded five and a suicide bombing that injured 15 outside a bar in Ansbach. 

ASYLUM-SEEKERS KILLED

Both attackers, asylum-seekers who arrived over the past two years, were killed.

Separately, last month, a shooting by a German-Iranian 18-year-old claimed 10 lives at a shopping mall in Munich, including the assailant's, while a 21-year-old Syrian asylum seeker fatally stabbed a pregnant woman with a machete and injured several others at a restaurant in Reutlingen. The motive behind these attacks remain unclear, though officials claim that Islamic extremism is not suspected.

Yet, Interior Minister De Maizière, who also wants to make "promoting terrorism" a criminal offense, said many people are now worried about further violence.

He stressed that while "no one can guarantee absolute security, authorities must do what is possible." But he backed off from plans to ban the all-body veil worn by some Muslim women, known as the Burka, saying the measure is "constitutionally problematic" and that "you can't ban everything that you reject."

The minister said he was limiting himself to proposals that could be implemented quickly and are considered "politically reasonable" for the center-left junior party in the conservative government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. De Maizière, who is a member of Merkel's party, the Christian Democrats, said he hopes that many of the measures can be introduced before a national election expected in September next year.








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