After the Magdeburg attack with five fatalities and over 200 injured, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) demands a consistent reaction from the federal government.
“The federal government must now finally seize the opportunity to toughen up the security measures – and that’s where it counts” Reul told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. He specifically called for a decision on data storage in traffic, saying, “Only then will we achieve a qualitative leap forward. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) should finally turn her words into action.”
It is not yet clear whether data storage in traffic would have helped in the Magdeburg case, but the suspected perpetrator was active on social media. “We also know from other cases, such as Solingen, that the network plays a role. Today, radicalization, recruitment, and arrangements are made on the web. This means that our answer to such acts, whether we are well or poorly prepared for them, can be found in our handling of the network. And we’re lagging behind legally in this respect” Reul said.