Two days after a deadly knife attack in the German city of Solingen, the youth wing of the far-right AfD party put out a call for supporters to stage a protest demanding the government do more to deport migrants denied asylum.
The authorities had identified the suspect in the stabbing spree that killed three people and wounded eight others as a Syrian man who was in the country despite having been denied asylum and who prosecutors suspected had joined the Islamic State. The attack tore at the fabric of the ethnically diverse, working-class city in the country’s west.
But even before the right-wing protests had begun on Sunday, scores of counterprotesters had gathered in front of the group home that housed the suspect and other refugees. They carried banners that read, “Welcome to refugees” and “Fascism is not an opinion, but a crime,” and railed against those who would use the attack to further inflame an already fraught national debate over immigration and refugees.
The dueling protests — not unlike those recently in Britain — are emblematic of Germany’s longstanding tug of war over how to deal with a large influx of asylum seekers in recent years. The country needs immigration to bolster its work force, but the government often finds itself on the defensive against an increasingly powerful AfD.
The party and its supporters are attempting to use the stabbing attack to bolster their broader anti-immigrant message, with some blaming the assault on “uncontrolled migration” even before the nationality of the suspect was known.
“They are trying to use this tragedy to foment fear,” said Matthias Marsch, 67, a Solingen resident who was at Sunday’s counterprotest and worries about a rightward drift in society. “I’m here to stand against that.”
In the end, just 30 or so far-right youths showed up and unfurled a banner that read, “Our People First,” but their speeches were difficult to hear over the chants of the counterprotesters.
Germany has been among the European countries most welcoming to immigrants, but as the AfD has gained traction — and as some local officials say they can no longer support the large number of asylum seekers — even mainstream politicians have begun to shift their stance. Many are now focusing on failed deportations and backing tougher measures to deport migrants who have been denied asylum but find ways to remain in the country.
The attack in Solingen has intensified the deportation argument. The suspect, identified only as Issa Al H., per Germany’s privacy rules, had managed to elude deportation after he was denied asylum. The right-wing is using that to argue that the government has lost control of immigration and, in this case, allowed a dangerous man to remain in the country.
Prosecutors are treating Friday’s attack as an act of terrorism given the suspect’s possible link to ISIS.
The attack has dominated headlines for days. “Why was the alleged Solingen assassin still in Germany?” asked the mainstream Süddeusche Zeitung newspaper — the same question raised by many other news organizations. Bild, Germany’s most widely read tabloid, ran an article suggesting that some German laws made the country a “‘paradise’ for terrorists.” And Der Stern, a glossy weekly, ran a column titled: “Not everyone who addresses the problems of immigration is a Nazi.”
Fearing a backlash from voters over the issue, mainstream politicians chimed in. Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democrats, the conservative party that under Angela Merkel allowed more than a million refugees to come to Germany in 2015 and 2016, called for an end to accepting refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, two countries where many of Germany’s asylum seekers come from.
A majority of refugees who arrived during Ms. Merkel’s tenure have found jobs, learned the language and settled in. But consistently high numbers of new asylum seekers, including from Ukraine, have tested German tolerance, especially in places where mayors say they cannot provide adequate housing and other support.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces voters next year and whose party and coalition have been bleeding support, visited the site of the attack on Monday morning and focused in good part on the issue of deportations.
“We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and should not remain here in Germany are sent back,” he told reporters, pointing to changes his government had already approved that have sped up deportations.
For Solingen, a working-class city, it has been difficult being at the center of the immigration debate. For years, the city had relied on immigrants to work in manufacturing jobs and the service industry, leading to a population that includes about 20 percent of residents who are not German citizens and many more who hold dual citizenship.
The attack, and the media spotlight, also reopened old wounds. For a time, Solingen had been a byword for racist violence after a neo-Nazi arson attack against a Turkish family killed five, including three children, in 1993.
The stabbing attack occurred during a city festival, and Philipp Müller, who had organized the musical acts that were part of the festivities, said: “It’s too early for politics. We first need to mourn.”
The task of telling festivalgoers what was happening had fallen to Mr. Müller, who climbed onto the stage and told the shocked audience members that they needed to leave, but carefully, since the attacker was still on the loose. In the confusion, the assailant had managed to slip away, discarding a six-inch kitchen knife, officials said; the suspect gave himself up during an expansive manhunt a day later.
Solingen is in North Rhine-Westphalia State, and Hendrick Wüst, the state governor, also railed against what he called “attempts to instrumentalize” the attack and to make Solingen “a political stage.” “Stay away from here, leave the people alone, leave this city alone,” he said at a news conference.
For now, that seems unlikely. The attack, coming just a week before the AfD could become the strongest political force in two states in the eastern part of the country, has rattled German politics.
The details of the suspect’s relatively short stay in Germany fit neatly with the far-right’s claims that Germany has lost control over the many refugees it hosts.
The suspect came to Germany late in 2022 and was scheduled to be deported in 2023 to Bulgaria, where he first entered the European Union and, under the bloc’s rules, where he was supposed to file his asylum claim.
But when officers showed up at the refugee center where he was living, he was nowhere to be found and his deportation was quietly dropped, according to the newsmagazine Der Spiegel and later confirmed by Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Because the six-month limit for deportation to Bulgaria had lapsed without further attempts to deport him, the suspect was ultimately given a special protected status accorded to people who cannot be returned to their home countries because of the risk of physical harm, according to Der Spiegel and Mr. Reul. He was then officially able to register to live in refugee housing in downtown Solingen, where he moved in September of 2023, according to the report.
Last year, more than 70,000 refugees were given such protected status, according to official figures. A recent court decision challenged the notion that all people coming from Syria would face undue danger if sent home.
The fallout from the attack has shaken other immigrants who fear they will be lumped together with the minority who commit crimes.
Emran Gadi, 34, shares those worries. He moved to Solingen from Serbia with his parents when he was a baby and went to the watch the chancellor’s visit on Monday. He said that since the attack, he feels as if some people look at him with suspicion.
Asked what he thinks about the debate on immigration, he said: “You are asking the wrong person, because we came here as refugees ourselves and I know what it is to come as a refugee from war.”
Then he added, “But people who can’t integrate or adapt simply don’t belong.”
Read More: German City Becomes Reluctant Symbol of a Nation’s Migration Battles
