internal security
Interior ministers want to better track down potential assassins
Investigators are working on the regional train where the knife attack occurred. The Palestinian Ibrahim A. is said to have attacked passengers on the train from Kiel to Hamburg near Brokstedt with a knife on January 25 and killed two, aged 17 and 19. photo
© Jonas Walzberg/dpa
The deadly train attack near Brokstedt in January left deep scars. The interior ministers want to find ways to better prevent such knife attacks by extremists or the mentally ill.
The interior ministers of the federal and state governments want to discuss new methods to prevent arbitrary knife attacks by extremists and the mentally ill. The reason for the topic at the upcoming Interior Ministers’ Conference (IMK) is the deadly attack near Brokstedt in Holstein in January.
However, the agenda for the spring meeting beginning on Wednesday shows that the ministers sometimes have different proposals as to how this goal can best be achieved. They range from improved registration of foreign multiple offenders to methods for the early detection of potential gunmen and assassins to the automatic exchange of certain messages between immigration, police, judicial and correctional authorities.
Deficits in communication with authorities
The Palestinian Ibrahim A. is said to have attacked passengers on a train from Kiel to Hamburg near Brokstedt with a knife on January 25 and killed two, aged 17 and 19. Five other people were injured. The Itzehoe prosecutor charged him with murder and attempted murder. The processing of the case revealed, among other things, deficits in communication between authorities. The suspect had also committed crimes in other federal states.
The topic of migration and refugees is also high on the agenda of the meeting. From the point of view of the heads of the interior department, the federal government’s plans to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes also raise fundamental questions.
The semi-annual conference of interior ministers (IMK) will take place in the capital this year, chaired by Berlin. It ends on Friday.
The Berlin police union (GdP) called for the federal states to deal uniformly with new forms of protest such as the street blockades of the Last Generation climate protection initiative. The current IMK chairwoman, Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD), had also encouraged another debate between the ministers about the climate protection demonstrators and their blockades. As the capital with the federal ministries, Berlin is particularly hard hit by the blockade and other actions.