Repeat after me: diversity is our strength.
“Terrorist attack planned at Christmas market in Hanover?,” translated from “Terroranschlag auf Weihnachtsmarkt in Hannover geplant?,” by Florian Flade and Reiko Pinkert, NDR, December 1, 2023 (thanks to Medforth):
The person arrested is said to be an Iraqi citizen who has only been in Germany since last year. According to information from security circles, the man is said to have thought about attacking visitors to a Christmas market with a knife. He was about to be deported: This had “already been prepared for today, Friday, December 1, 2023, in coordination with the Federal Police,” the Interior Ministry in Magdeburg announced on Friday. The 20-year-old has filed a lawsuit against the deportation decision of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees at the Magdeburg Administrative Court. Das rejected the 20-year-old’s asylum application on November 21, 2023 as obviously unfounded.
LKA “cannot rule out” Hanover as the target of the attack
According to information from NDR and WDR, the target of the attack could possibly have been the Christmas market in Hanover. “We cannot rule this out at the moment,” a spokesman for the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) told the German Press Agency on Friday. Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) told NDR Lower Saxony on Thursday evening that there was no evidence of specific attacks in Lower Saxony, but the available findings prompted the security authorities to take the 20-year-old into preventive custody.Islamist was arrested on November 21st
The 20-year-old from Saxony-Anhalt was taken into police custody by the LKA in Helmstedt on November 21st as part of the security measures. “The 20-year-old is still in police custody on the basis of security measures. The Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office is currently not providing any further background information for tactical reasons,” said an LKA spokesman. According to the investigators’ findings, he is said to be an Islamist who is said to have agreed to carry out such an attack in support of the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS).Attorney General’s Office is investigating
The Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe is now investigating possible support for a terrorist organization in this case and has had the man’s apartment searched. A spokeswoman for the authority did not want to comment on the matter when asked.According to Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Behrens, the police are very present, especially at major events. People in Lower Saxony don’t need to be afraid of visiting a Christmas market.
Haldenwang: “Danger higher than it has been for a long time”
On Wednesday, the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Thomas Haldenwang, warned of Islamist violence. “The danger is real and higher than it has been for a long time,” said Haldenwang. The Middle East conflict and the Koran burnings in Sweden have significantly heated up the mood in the Islamist scene in this country. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) made similar statements. “We are working hard to thwart potential plans that would violate the safety of Jews, Israeli institutions, but also major events,” explained Haldenwang.A raid took place in the area around the Islamic Center Hamburg. Another was directed against five suspicious people.
Minors apparently planned attack in Leverkusen
Just on Tuesday, two underage Islamists were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg on suspicion of terrorism: a 15-year-old German-Afghan and a 16-year-old Russian, who are considered IS sympathizers. The two are said to have previously exchanged specific information in a chat group about an attack with a truck and incendiary devices on a Christmas market in Leverkusen.According to the BKA, there are more than 480 threats across Germany
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) currently assumes that there are more than 480 people in Germany who are classified as Islamist threats. You can be expected to commit a serious act of violence at any time. However, only about half of these Islamists are at large in this country; the other half are said to be in prison or abroad.The number of procedures has almost doubled
The high level of danger posed by Islamist terrorists is also reflected in the number of investigations initiated by the Federal Prosecutor General: between the beginning of January and the end of September this year, 356 proceedings relating to Islamist terrorism were initiated nationwide by the Karlsruhe authority. That is almost twice as many cases as in the same period last year. The Federal Prosecutor General investigates membership or support of terrorist organizations and, in special cases, preparation of terrorist crimes.