The deadly attack in Halle an der Saale shook the country. At rallies in several cities, people positioned themselves against right-wing extremist ideas and expressed their solidarity with the Jewish communities. In the Bundestag left-wing group urged to draw swift consequences from Tat.
In a position paper presented to the dpa news agency, the Parliamentary Leader of the Left Party, Jan Korte, calls for a "counter-terrorism package". This includes, among other things, increasing the pressure of persecution on neo-Nazi perpetrators of violence, consistently disarming militant right-wing extremists, and setting up a division against legal terrorism at the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Furthermore, hate crime on the Net should be pursued more resolutely, civil society prevention better promoted, and victims of right-wing violence more strongly supported. To implement these demands, Korte hopes for a "summit against right-wing violence" in the Chancellor's Office, to which security authorities, local politicians, victims' associations and civil society initiatives will be invited.
On Wednesday, the now-solemn Stephan Balliet had tried to storm a synagogue in Halle. More than 50 people were in the church at the time to celebrate the most important Jewish festival, Yom Kippur.
The attacker killed a 40-year-old woman outside the church; In a nearby doner kebab he shot a 20-year-old man from Merseburg. On the run, the offender also injured a 40-year-old woman and her 41-year-old man with shots. The weapons of the offender failed several times on Wednesday, otherwise more people would have died.
After the arrest, the investigators in the car of the offender several weapons and four kilos of explosives safely. Balliet has now confessed the act and granted a right-wing and anti-Semitic motive. (Read here the cover story of Der Spiegel for the assassination attempt).