the shadow of the Magdeburg assault hangs over the election marketing campaign | EUROtoday

LMagdeburg assault might have been a cynical boon for the AfD (Alternative for Germany) 9 weeks earlier than the early elections. A refugee from Saudi Arabia to whom beneficiant Germany granted an indefinite residence allow in 2016 drove his BMW ram into harmless strollers on the Christmas market on Friday, December 20, killing 5 folks – together with a 9-year-old youngster – and greater than 200 injured, some significantly. Credited with 20% of the votes within the polls, the far-right celebration might hope that this carnage on Christmas Eve would additional strengthen its probabilities within the early elections of February 23.

But the advanced and contradictory persona of the Magdeburg attacker doesn’t correspond to the black and white worldview of far-right activists and voters. Taleb A. shouldn’t be a fanatic younger Islamist. He is 50 years previous, he’s a psychiatrist and has distanced himself from Islam: “I am the most aggressive critic of Islam in history,” he mentioned in an interview with a German newspaper in 2019, earlier than including: “There is no good Islam. »

The complexity of the suspect’s character

Above all, he displays his sympathy for the AfD on social networks. “Who is fighting Islam in Germany? » asks Taleb A. He posts statements from Alice Weidel, the leader of the far-right party, accompanied by this comment: “The left is crazy. We need the AfD! » In another tweet, he announced: “Me and the AfD are fighting the same enemy to protect Germany. »

ALSO READ Elon Musk takes advantage of the Magdeburg drama to copiously insult Olaf ScholzThere are fans we could do without. The party leadership, visibly perplexed, was careful not to exploit this attack in the hope of scoring points at the polls. Certainly, in a first reaction, Alice Weidel declared Friday evening: “We are in thoughts with the loved ones of the victims and the injured. When will this madness end? » A barely veiled allusion to migrants.

As the complexity of the suspect’s character was revealed, the party’s leader became increasingly discreet. The AfD leadership even hastened to make it known that Taleb A. was not one of its members and had never applied for membership.

Only a few deputies from the AfD – which owes its spectacular rise to the migrant crisis and the resentment that their arrival has aroused among the population since 2015 – have given voice to their anger by demanding “remigration”, the sending again of migrants. of their nation of origin. That the suspect shouldn’t be an Islamist doesn’t appear to concern them.

“Terrible and crazy act”

The Magdeburg assault additional exacerbates the difficulty of immigration which, alongside the economic system, was already the central theme of the transient electoral marketing campaign. Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser instantly went to the scene on Saturday morning, accompanied by Friedrich Merz, the candidate of the conservative opposition CDU/CSU within the race for Chancellor.

The time was not for giant political declarations. They merely expressed their worry and provided their condolences to the households of the victims. Olaf Scholz condemned this “terrible and crazy act” and promised that every part could be finished to make sure a meticulous investigation. “There is no place more peaceful and joyful than a Christmas market,” he mentioned, “what a terrible act to injure and kill so many people with such brutality!” »

ALSO READ Olaf Scholz, an unloved candidate for a deadly electionThe Germans in shock will as soon as once more demand accountability from those that lead them: how might such an assault be attainable? How might such a person, so talkative on social networks, have slipped by the cracks of the safety companies and the police? In the approaching weeks, politicians must present convincing solutions.

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Kangaroo of the day

Answer

Friedrich Merz, favourite within the subsequent elections, has lengthy positioned himself because the candidate whose priorities are the return to order and safety. He guarantees to reform European asylum legislation and has pledged to scale back social advantages granted to unlawful migrants and to create departure facilities to hurry up the expulsion of these whose asylum purposes have been rejected.

A measure that he intends to use constantly to Syrian refugees now that the regime of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. CDU MP Jens Spahn, former Minister of Health, even proposed granting a bonus of 1,000 euros to Syrians who want to return house and chartering planes to repatriate them freed from cost. The shadow of the Magdeburg assault will now hold over the elections of February 23.