Farhad N., the Afghan migrant who ran over 28 people in Munich at noon, seriously injuring several of them, arrived in Germany in 2016, during Merkel’s time, and although his asylum application was rejected in 2020, his deportation was halted. In the meantime, he stole, became involved in drug offenses and became close to radical Islam. The attack pours more fuel into the political system ahead of the elections in 10 days, in which the deportation of migrants is a central issue: “Something must change, it’s time to act”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday that the terrorist suspected of carrying out the vehicular attack in Munich, in which 28 people were wounded, some seriously, must be punished and then leave the country. Scholz made the remarks after it emerged that the driver was a 24-year-old migrant from Afghanistan whose asylum application was rejected but remained in Germany, and who, according to mounting evidence, held extremist positions and posted Islamist posts online before the attack.
The vehicular attack took place at 10:30 a.m. local time, not far from Munich’s main train station: the attacker, Farhad N., was driving behind a police car that was accompanying a procession of about 1,500 demonstrators as part of a strike declared by a local trade union demanding better working conditions. At one point, he overtook the patrol car and then ran over dozens of participants. He seriously injured several of them, and witnesses reported, among other things, that they saw a mother and child lying under his car. It was later reported that the condition of a two-year-old toddler is described as very serious.
The attack took place less than a day before the opening of the Munich Security Conference, a major diplomatic-security event attended annually by senior figures from all over the world. Just today, US Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are scheduled to arrive in Munich to participate in this conference. The vehicular attack took place about a kilometer and a half from the conference site, although so far there is no evidence that it was related to the conference.
As the hours passed, more details became clear about the driver who ran over Farhad N. He was born in Kabul in 2001 and arrived in Germany at the end of 2016, the period when the German government led by Angela Merkel agreed to take in masses of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa, mainly from Arab and Islamic countries. Farhad entered before he turned 18, so he was defined as an “unaccompanied minor” and handed over to the welfare authorities.
A few weeks later, he applied for asylum, but it was rejected in September 2017. In 2020, he was required to leave Germany, but his deportation was suspended by virtue of a temporary permit given to him, as was given in various cases in Germany where the deportation order cannot be implemented. Such situations arise, for example, when the migrant does not have identification documents, when he is sick or when he is a minor with a residency card. Farhad N. was known to law enforcement from previous offenses, in the field of drugs and theft, and today’s attack is expected to further inflame the political system in Germany ahead of the federal elections that will be held in a week and a half, in which the issue of the treatment of asylum seekers is a central issue.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is defined by many as a far-right party and has made the fight against Muslim immigration to the country its banner, is expected to have the greatest achievement in its history.
In recent weeks, it has become clear that even more moderate right-wing parties, from the political mainstream, have intensified their tone against immigrants.
Hours after the attack, Christian Democrat leader Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become chancellor after the election, called for political decisions to be made that would ensure greater security for Germans: “Everyone needs to feel safe in our country again. Something must change in Germany,” he wrote, “The security of the people in Germany will be our top priority. We will enforce law and order consistently.”
Incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democratic Party stated that “if this is indeed a terror attack, we must take consistent measures against future terrorists.”
He called on politicians to take a firm stance: “We must act. Anyone who is not willing to do so must bear responsibility for our country.” Markus Zeder, the prime minister of the state of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital, said earlier that “this attack shows that something needs to change in Germany – and quickly!”
On the other hand, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of the Green Party warned German society not to allow the attack to divide it. She said that in light of the challenges from outside and at home, it is especially important to stand together as a strong democratic bloc, “that we will not allow ourselves to be divided, neither by the actions of the extreme right nor by those of the Islamists who are challenging our country from within.”
Baerbock’s warnings do not come in a vacuum. A few hours after the ramming in Munich, German authorities announced that they had thwarted an attack by a 21-year-old man against an absorption center in the east of the country intended for asylum seekers.
They said that a search was conducted at his home yesterday following an anonymous tip received, and that various types of weapons were found in it. It is another reminder of the great tension that prevails in Germany over the issue of immigrants, and the possibility of more attacks in the future.
