Germany vows to stay a safe haven after attacks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that Germany will stand by its principles of offering safe haven to migrants and not bow to fears stoked by a series of attacks in one week, including two claimed by the Islamic State.

Cutting short a vacation to meet with reporters after the nation’s refugee policy came under fire, Merkel vowed to ratchet up security measures. “Fear can’t be a good counsel for political action,” she said in Berlin.

She acknowledged the shocking nature of the terror attacks, including three by refugees seeking asylum in Germany. In the two attacks claimed by the Islamic State, a Syrian refugee blew himself up in Ansbach on Sunday and left 15 people wounded. On July 18, an Afghan teen wielding an ax wounded five passengers on a train in Würzburg.

“Taboos of civilization are being broken,” Merkel said.

Merkel said her 2015 policy of accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees still stands.

“I am still convinced today that ‘we can do it.’ It is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge,” she said, according to Agence France-Presse.

The policy has frustrated a majority of Germans, with more than 60% saying the number of refugees being accepted have become too high, according to polling published by YouGov.