BERLIN (AP) 鈥 German leaders paid tribute Sunday to the three people killed in the Aug. 23 knife attack by a suspected Islamic extremist, which has pushed immigration back to the top of the country's political agenda.
Eight people also were wounded in the attack at a 鈥淔estival of Diversity鈥 marking the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen in western Germany. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a memorial event in a city theater that he was 鈥渞elieved and thankful鈥 that none of them is now in serious danger.
The 26-year-old , who was arrested a day after the attack, was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria last year but reportedly disappeared for a time and avoided deportation.
In recent days, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has announced new restrictions on knives and new measures to ease deportations. On Friday, it to their homeland for the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, following up on made in June after a previous attack.
鈥淚t is a horrifying crime that brings us together today, carried out by a man who, according to everything we know, sought and and found protection here, and abused this protection so terribly,鈥 Steinmeier said at the memorial, also attended by Scholz and other top officials. 鈥淭hat is also intolerable.鈥
Steinmeier said that 鈥渨e are for good reason a country that takes in people who seek protection from political persecution and war.鈥 He added that 鈥渨e want to remain that country, but ultimately we can only do so if the number of those who are not entitled to this special protection does not overburden us.鈥
鈥淲e must make every effort to implement the entry rules that exist and the ones that are now being drawn up,鈥 he said, adding that 鈥渢his must be a priority in the coming years.鈥
The attack in Solingen also has reawakened painful memories of a racist on a Turkish family's home there in which five women and girls were killed in 1993. Four young Germans were later convicted.
鈥淭here was already one shocking Solingen attack, now a second,鈥 Mayor Tim Kurzbach said. 鈥淲hy always Solingen?鈥
