German frontrunner vows permanent border controls after knife attack

The conservative opposition leader tipped to lead Germany following next month’s elections has promised far-reaching changes to border and asylum rules after a group of children were targeted in a deadly knife attack in Bavaria.

Friedrich Merz promised in effect to close Germany’s borders to all irregular migrants, including those with a right to protection.

A two-year-old boy of Moroccan origin and a man aged 41 were killed in Wednesday’s attack in Aschaffenburg, and several others were hurt.

An Afghan man aged 28 was due to appear in court on Thursday accused of murder and grievous harm.

Wednesday’s stabbing in Aschaffenburg is the latest in a string of violent and fatal attacks that have involved suspects who have sought asylum in Germany.

In a matter of hours, the stabbings prompted a hardened tone from Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as Merz, the centre-right opposition leader.

Scholz promised quick action and called it an “act of terror” – although officials have not, so far, said that they believe there was a terrorist motive.

Merz, whose Christian Democrats lead the opinion polls ahead of 23 February federal elections, refused to accept that attacks in Mannheim last May, Solingen in August and Magdeburg last month, would be “the new normal”.

The Afghan suspect in yesterday’s attack arrived in Germany in 2022 and was linked to three previous acts of violence, according to Bavarian officials. He had agreed to leave Germany last month but was still receiving psychiatric treatment and living in asylum accommodation.

An investigating judge will decide whether he should be remanded in custody or placed temporarily in a psychiatric hospital.

Merz said that on his first day as chancellor he would instruct the interior ministry to take permanent control of Germany’s borders.

“We see before us the ruins of 10 years of misguided asylum and immigration policy in Germany,” he said. “We reached the limit.”

Under his party colleague, Angela Merkel, Germany welcomed more than a million refugees during Europe’s 2015-16 migrant crisis.

Criticising EU asylum rules as as “recognisably dysfunctional”, he said Germany should now “exercise its right to the primacy of national law”.

Germany has already reinstated checks on its borders to combat illegal immigration, which is allowed temporarily under the EU’s border-free Schengen rules as a “last-resort” measure, but not on permanent basis.

Merz also said it was time to significantly increase the number of places available for detention ahead of deportation.

Merz’s promise to close the borders to illegal entries on day one at the chancellery in Berlin has a Trumpian ring to it.

The US president has pushed through a flurry of executive orders and actions to tackle illegal immigration since he re-entered the White House this week.

In Germany, both the centre-left chancellor and Merz are conscious that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been consistently polling second, has made immigration a signature issue.

AfD leader Alice Weidel has called for a vote in the German parliament next week on closing Germany’s borders and turning back irregular migrants. “The knife terror of Aschaffenburg must have consequences now,” she said on social media.

Some critics will argue that Scholz and Merz’s move to take a tougher stance now comes too late. Others will argue that a rightwards shift by mainstream parties could simply bolster the AfD’s arguments.

In any case German politics does not lend itself to a presidential-style set of day-one decrees, given the necessity of forming coalitions with other parties.

The leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party, Christian Lindner, said Merz would not be able to introduce such changes if he went into coalition with the Social Democrats or Green party.

Nancy Faeser, who is both interior minister and a party colleague of Olaf Scholz, suggested that “some people are now making largely fact-free arguments in election campaign mode”.

“I can only warn very clearly against abusing such a terrible act for populism, that only benefits the right-wing populists with their contempt for humanity,” she said.

The 41-year-old man who was killed in Wednesday’s knife attack has been praised, apparently for coming to the aid of the kindergarten group and saving the lives of other children.

Another two-year-old of Syrian origin suffered knife wounds to her neck.

A man of 72 suffered serious stab wounds and a kindergarten teacher suffered a broken arm.