After all this, here is Mayor Andrea Kummerscheidt’s primary concern: “We hope that this incident does not attract right-wing radicals to Garding. We do not want them here.”
Of course. The menace of jihad mass murder is one thing, but having a presence of “right-wingers” would be far, far worse.
“Islamic slogans – services in Garding under police protection,” translated from “Islamische Parolen – Gottesdienste in Garding unter Polizeischutz,” by Ilse Buchwald, Holsteinischer Courier, December 27, 2018 (thanks to Searchlight Germany):
Under special circumstances, Christmas was celebrated in Garding in the district of Nordfriesland. For all three church services on Christmas Eve, employees of a security service stood at the only open entrance to St. Christian’s Church in the middle of the market square. In addition, the police patrolled. They will also be present at all church events until mid-January, reports Pastor Thomas Knippenberg in response to inquiries. This was also the case yesterday at the Plattdüütschen Wiehnacht in St. Christian’s.
The reason: a young man had smeared the church on the Third Sunday of Advent with Islamic slogans. When a citizen caught him, he threatened that person, according to Pastor Knippenberg. “Then we contacted the police.” The young man also attacked attendees to the carol-singing that Sunday. He also quarreled with Pastor Knippenberg. “Obviously, he has something against the Christian Christmas.”
In order to consider what needed to be done for the safety of the citizens, in the week before Christmas, scholars, police, the social psychiatric service, city officials, Nordfriesland officials and the bishop’s chancellery had a meeting, as Knippenberg went on to say. He, by the way removed the graffiti himself. The young man was banned from the church and the church forecourt. For the Christmas Eve church service, a professional security service was engaged, since the police were present on Eiderstedt only with a patrol car. “So we could celebrate the service in a relatively relaxed way.”
The precautionary measures proved to be needed: the young man also came, but was successfully expelled from the place. “I felt very good that we are standing together here in Garding,” says Pastor Knippenberg, referring to the 24th of December. “The people of Garding have not been deterred from coming to the service.” Even Bishop Gothart Magaard had called on Christmas Eve to convey his support and prayers. “I hope peace will come now.”
“Actually, we live here in peace,” explains Mayor Andrea Kummerscheidt in response to an inquiry. “The asylum seekers are well integrated.” The young man, who is said to come from the Middle East, also lives as an asylum seeker in the city. She had heard that he desperately wanted to go back to his family and leave Garding. According to the social psychiatric service, his behavior was not enough to detain him. But Andrea Kummerscheidt has another concern: “We hope that this incident does not attract right-wing radicals to Garding. We do not want them here.” The city will contribute half of the costs of the security service.