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Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / REUTERS
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for consistent action against right-wing extremism within the police at a commemoration event for the 40th anniversary of the Oktoberfest attack.
"Enemies of freedom and democracy must not be tolerated in the police," said Steinmeier in Munich.
"Every effort must be made to expose right-wing extremist networks where they exist."
The police leaderships and the politically responsible should "not tolerate any climate" in which networks could develop and be covered.
"Looking away is no longer allowed."
Recently, several police officers had been suspended from duty in North Rhine-Westphalia who had exchanged right-wing extremist entries in a chat group.
The case had sparked outrage nationwide.
There had also been comparable incidents in other federal states.
Steinmeier said that the commemoration of the Oktoberfest attack must also be an occasion to "think about mistakes, omissions and blind spots in the investigation of right-wing extremist attacks in the past".
This includes the question of "whether there were, and possibly still are, typical, repetitive deficits in law enforcement."
"We know that right-wing extremist networks exist," said the Federal President.
"The series of murders by the NSU has shed light on this blind spot of law enforcement."
At the same time, it had become clear that "investigations will come to nothing if they are not carried out without reservation, as they should be".
Söder apologizes
On the evening of September 26, 1980, a bomb killed twelve Wiesn visitors and the right-wing extremist bomber Gundolf Köhler and injured more than 200.
In July, after several years of new investigations, the federal prosecutor's office reorganized the act and expressly stated that Köhler was acting out of right-wing extremist motivation.
In the 1980s, the investigators had assessed the attack as an act of an individual out of personal frustration.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) apologized for misjudgments and failures at the time.
"I'm sorry and I apologize for the mistakes that were made in the investigation, but also in the assessment," said Söder.
He is speaking as Prime Minister and legal successor to all previous Bavarian Prime Ministers, but also as the person responsible for the Free State.
"Anyone who underestimates right-wing extremists is sinning against democracy," said Söder.
He made a "protection promise": "We will not allow right-wing extremism, hatred, anti-Semitism, racism to be tolerated, accepted or in any way underestimated."
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sms / dpa / AFP