Berlin mourned after an attack close Christopher Street Day. According to German media and press agencies, 1 female was killed and respective twelve people were injured. The case is being investigated as an assassination of an muslim motive, and for Europe it is simply a painful reminder that citizens' safety cannot be lost to political correctness.
Grief after the Berlin attack
On Saturday 25 July evening, in the Berlin area of Tiergarten, there was an attack close events related to Christopher Street Day. According to rbb24, ZDF and Tagesschau, 1 female died and respective twelve people were injured. rbb24 stated, citing German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt, that 29 were injured and that no of these people are in a state of danger anymore.
There were flowers, candles and flags on the scene of the tragedy. This is the appropriate image of the moment: first the memory of the sacrifice, the prayer for the wounded, and the respect for people whose lives have been brutally interrupted or marked by fear. In the face of death, there is no place for ridicule or political triumphism.
At the same time, you must not run distant from facts. German media describe the event as a suspected muslim attack. Tagesschau reported that the perpetrator had been known to the services for a long time. The Associated Press reported that investigators had found material that looked like a evidence of a confession, and the suspect's telephone was expected to have footage of a declaration of loyalty to the muslim State.
Suspect is no longer wanted.
The title circulating in the information queue spoke of a fugitive. This item is no longer up to date. According to Tagesschau and AP, a 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, suspected of attacking, was shot by the police on Sunday, July 26 during an action in Berlin Spandau. German media reports he was about to attack officers with a sharp weapon.
The investigation was taken over by the German national prosecutors. It shows the importance of the case. We're not talking about a road accident or a chaotic fight. According to the current arrangements, this is about terrorist force against people active in a public event.
You should be precise. The individual liable for the crime will be the perpetrator and possible helpers if the investigation reveals them. The blame must not be passed on to full spiritual or national communities. But it would be equally unfair to pretend that Islamist ideology does not matter, since the German authorities and the media themselves describe specified a lead as central in proceedings.
Questions to the German State
The hardest question concerns the service. If the fishy was previously known to the authorities, if he had ties to an muslim community and if, according to media coverage, earlier signals of radicalization appeared, then citizens have the right to ask: why did the strategy not work earlier?
This question is not “the speech of hatred”. It's a state duty. Western Europe has been struggling for years with the problem of radicalisation, safety control gaps and the fear of the elite from naming a threat by name. The consequences of this weakness are common people: participants of public events, passers-bys, families of victims, policemen and rescuers.
Poland should look at specified events without satisfaction and without naivety. Regrettably to the victims, but besides with hard realism. The state has the right and work to control extremist environments, to respond to informing signals, to remove real dangerous people from public spaces and to defend mass gatherings.
Lesson for Poland
For Poles, the stakes are clear. safety is not a political addition. It's her first job. If the state loses to fanaticism, the price is paid innocently.
It's not about chasing people due to religion or origin. It is about the courage to name ideology that calls for violence, and about institutions capable of acting before tragedy alternatively of after it. Berlin mourns the victim. Europe should learn lessons. Poland too.
