Merkel calls for calm amid terrorist acts
Three words, no ‘‘We’ll manage it.’’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her first substantive response to a string of violent episodes over the last 10 days, yesterday repeated the same utterance she made famous last year as the nation opened its borders to a flood of refugees and migrants.
Merkel’s calm insistence that German society could absorb large numbers of newcomers from wartorn countries – despite safety fears and rising criticism of her coincidence: migrant policies – carried echoes of the passionate debate over immigration that is roiling America’s presidential campaign.
Merkel announced new measures aimed at helping authorities pinpoint and act on security threats, but at the same time made it clear that she believed that too heavyhanded a reaction to recent events would play into the hands of militant groups. ‘‘They want to damage our way of life, our openness and, yes, our ability to take in people in distress.’’
She called the absorption of migrants and refugees a ‘‘historic task’’.
Merkel’s calculated repetition of last summer’s signature phrase ‘‘Wir schaffen das’’ – ‘‘We can do it’’ – was widely interpreted as a deliberate signal that she harboured no qualms about throwing wide the gates to those fleeing violence and persecution.
The number of arrivals this year has dropped dramatically as a result of a European agreement with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants across the Aegean to Greece, but the issue remains a lightning rod for debate.
‘‘Merkel is determined to stay the course on welcoming migrants into Germany, which has become increasingly controversial – that’s obviously the bottom line,’’ said Christopher Chivvis, of Rand Corp’s International Security and Defence Policy Centre.
In Bavaria, where three of four recent episodes of bloodshed took place, officials said they would add 2000 police in the next three years and set up special divisions to monitor Islamic extremists and fight cybercrime.