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| Europe |
| A Girl's Killing Shakes Germany's Migration Debate |
| 2018-06-11 |
| [NYTimes] It was a gruesome murder: A 14-year-old girl was raped and strangled, her body buried under brushwood in a secluded area near the railway tracks near her hometown in western Germany. But the fact that the chief suspect is an Iraqi asylum seeker has turned a terrible crime into political dynamite. On Friday, the case dominated the German news media and became the latest cudgel for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opponents and, some predicted, a potential turning point in the migration debate in a country where some 10,000 asylum seekers still enter every month. There is no doubt the murder has given ammunition to those who want to get tougher, led by the far right, who are waging a widening challenge to what they contend is the government’s botched handling of asylum cases. The murder suspect, identified as Ali Bashar, a 20-year-old Iraqi, arrived in Germany in October 2015, shortly after Ms. Merkel opened the borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants. He was rejected in late 2016, but was allowed to stay in the country while his appeal was pending. Last Saturday, he and seven other members of his family managed to flee the country, boarding a plane in Düsseldorf with papers apparently issued by the Iraqi Consulate but featuring false names, after paying cash for a one-way fare to Istanbul and then on to Iraq, where he has since been arrested. The case is not linked to the scandal at the German migration agency, but together they have played into fears that Ms. Merkel’s government is not in control of the migrant situation. The scandal at the migration agency has been building for weeks since state prosecutors began a criminal investigation into alleged corruption at a regional office in Bremen, in northern Germany. The investigation was recently broadened to include at least 10 other offices with above-average rates of granting asylum. Critics of Ms. Merkel, led by the nativist Alternative for Germany party, now the largest opposition party, have been calling for a parliamentary inquiry into her migration policy. The proposal is gaining traction with other parties, too, and could threaten Ms. Merkel’s uneasy coalition with the Social Democrats. On Thursday night, after reports of the killing, Alice Weidel, the deputy leader of the AfD, accused Ms. Merkel of sharing responsibility in the death of the girl, who has been identified by the authorities as Susanna Feldmann, and called for her entire cabinet to step down. |
| Posted by:Elmerert Hupens2660 |
| #7 Why she should want this is left as an exercise for the reader. Her father was a fully committed supporter of Soviet Communism. The religious doctrine her father taught her stated that communist rule is the Christian protestant god's will. Conversely the mere existence of Western civilization and free societies is a sin against that god. Theocracy, totalitarianism, enmity towards the West are the essential aspects of Merkel's political and philosophical background. |
| Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2018-06-11 09:19 |
| #6 fears that Ms. Merkel’s government is not in control of the migrant situation. Or this is the situation she wants. Why she should want this is left as an exercise for the reader. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2018-06-11 07:53 |
| #5 German "police" are probably similar to the UK "police" in they are nothing like police. More the political arm to suppress anyone questioning the establishment. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2018-06-11 07:05 |
| #4 ...Ve were just obeying orders. Heard that one before? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-06-11 06:55 |
| #3 The cops likely have orders not to pursue crimes most likely to have an Islamic origin. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2018-06-11 06:48 |
| #2 Cops must have had an idea.... |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2018-06-11 05:48 |
| #1 The author of this article apparently is a native German. In light of this it is telling that the fact that the victim is Jewish is never mentioned. Also the article quotes the victim's mother's open letter to Merkel without mentioning her specific complaints about the police. According to the letter the police initially did not take any action after the girl was reported missing. Only 5 days later, after the mother had hired a lawyer did the police subpoena cell phone data and go public with the search. Also the mother had told the police that her daughter's fake last message was written in a style she didn't recognize, but she was ignored. The letter in German can be found here. |
| Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2018-06-11 03:56 |