After an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg left five dead and more than 200 injured, debate arose about the consequences for security policy. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Feser (SPD) said on Sunday that federal authorities would “pull out all stops”. It is about putting together a picture of the culprit “that does not fit into any previous grid.” Then the right conclusion has to be drawn from this.
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In conversation with “Spiegel” Feser also called, among other things, for the prompt passage of the security package: “All our draft laws can be passed immediately if the Union and the FDP do not refuse to do so.” The so-called security package with a comprehensive central database and facial recognition powers for the BKA and the federal police, which was passed by the Bundestag in the autumn but rejected by the federal states as being too weak, is currently stuck in the parliamentary procedure. It has happened.
Former Federal Justice Minister and FDP Secretary General Marco Buschmann demanded, “If there is credible evidence, the parties in the democratic center must talk together about the consequences.” CDU representatives such as parliamentary group deputy Thorsten Frei demanded that IP data retention should come now – a demand that the states jointly raised through the Bundesrat when they rejected the parts of the security package that were new, Were supposed to regulate the extended powers. ,
The Bundestag’s internal committee will be informed about the current status of the investigation on Monday afternoon. MPs do not yet know the full background: “I do not believe in hasty demands without knowing all the facts,” Manuel Hoferlein (FDP) told Heise Online.
Powers already in place today
There are already a number of ways for police officers to deal with content on social media. If terrorism is suspected, the so-called Terrorism Content Online Ordinance applies, under which the Federal Criminal Police Office can order the removal of content from hosting services such as social media platforms, an option the authority makes wide use of. Additionally, the Digital Services Act created an obligation for operators to proactively report content to the BKA if there is any suspicion of a threat to people’s life, limb or liberty. A request to the Wiesbaden authorities as to whether any of the rules apply here remained unanswered this morning.
Why the authorities in Magdeburg did not take stronger measures against the perpetrator, of whom they clearly knew, is also the subject of subsequent investigations in the federal and state governments. An example from Bremerhaven, reported by NDR and dpa, shows that there is another way: According to this, a man announced on TikTok that he wanted to kill people of southern origin at a Christmas market. The 67-year-old man was then provisionally arrested.
(Mac)
