German President Scholz vows more deportations after visiting massacre scene

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged Monday to step up deportations during a visit to Solingen, where a deadly stabbing attack believed to be linked to Islamic State has emboldened the far-right opposition and fueled criticism of his government's handling of migration.

“We will have to do everything in our power to ensure that those who cannot or are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Scholz told reporters in the western city, where he laid a flower at the crime scene.

“It was terrorism, terrorism against all of us,” he added.

The attack, in which a 26-year-old suspected Islamic State member from Syria is accused of killing three people, has fueled political tensions over asylum and deportation rules ahead of elections in three states next month.

The militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred Friday evening during a festival celebrating Solingen's 650-year history.

In addition to the three killed, eight were injured, some seriously.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which advocates a crackdown on immigration, is leading polls in Saxony and Thuringia, where regional elections are scheduled for Sunday, and in Brandenburg, where elections will be held on September 22.

The AfD used the attack as an opportunity to campaign, with the party's leading candidate in Thuringia, Bjoern Hoecke, offering voters the choice between “Hoecke or Solingen”.

Opinion pollsters Stefan Merz of Infratest dimap and Manfred Guellner of Forsa said: Reuters The attack is unlikely to translate into more votes for the far-right party, as its supporters were already mobilised by migration issues.

Merz of Infratest dimap raised the possibility that the centre-right CDU could benefit at the expense of Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats.

A failed deportation

The attack puts pressure on Scholz as his Social Democrats, along with their coalition partners the Greens and Free Democrats, battered by months of wrangling, lag in the polls.

In a tougher speech, Scholz promised in October 2023 to step up expulsions “on a large scale” – a promise he repeated after his visit to the scene of the Solingen attack.

As recently as June, Scholz said he would take a tougher stance on deportations after an Afghan man stabbed a police officer, who later died of his injuries, during an attack on a far-right protest in the city of Mannheim.

Scholz said Monday that evictions were up about two-thirds from 2021 levels.

“But that is no reason for us to rest on our laurels,” he added, saying the government was exploring legal and practical ways to increase the numbers.

Authorities had planned to deport the suspect in Friday's attack to Bulgaria last year under European Union asylum rules, according to German media.

The eviction was unsuccessful because the man was not present at his refugee shelter when authorities attempted to carry out the order, according to reports.

A government spokesman said the eviction plan had “failed in practice” rather than on any legal basis.

(Reuters)