‘Racism Is Poison’, Angela Merkel’s Statement on Hanau Shooting

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel harshly criticized racist speeches and hate crimes in her reaction to the xenophobic attack that took place in Hanau on Wednesday night.

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"Racism is poison. Hate is poison. And this poison occurs in our society and is already responsible for too many crimes," Merkel said and mentioned as examples the crimes of the National Socialist Clandestinity (NSU), the anti-Semitic attack in the Halle city in 2019, and the murder of politician Walter Lubcke.

The Hanau's shooter seems to have been motivated by "hatred against people of another origin, another religion, and another appearance," the Chancellor noted and stressed that her government defends "the rights and dignity of all people... We do not differentiate by origin or religion."

Besides offering condolences to the relatives of the nine dead and five wounded in Hanau, Merkel vowed that her administration is confronting "those who try to divide Germany with all our strength and determination."

The terrorist attack in Hanau was perpetrated by a 43-year-old German who randomly shot at people in two bars.

"On Thursday, the author of the shooting was found dead next to the body of his 72-year-old mother ... Both were gunshot wounds," the Spanish outlet El Pais reported.

For his part, Germany's Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked that what happened in Hanau have political consequences.

“Our political debates cannot ignore the fact that there is far-right terrorism in Germany 75 years after the Nazi dictatorship. We have to defend our liberal democracy. ”

The Hanau shooting came less than a week after “German police arrested a right-wing group which had plans to spark a civil war in the country. Germany deals with such groups that still glorify Adolf Hitler. They view Muslims and Jews as enemies,” Somalia News recalled.