Crisis meeting on the failure of Magdeburg: No answer to the most important question! | policy

The public part of the meeting is over. Now the non-public part begins. Interior Minister Zieschang may want to say more about why the mobile barrier was missing – and why the perpetrator was able to go to the Christmas market.

There are always questions about whether a mobile barrier was planned at the point where Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen drove his car to the Christmas market. There are repeated requests to answer this in the public part. But Interior Minister Zieschang always evades, pointing to possible answers in the confidential section.

“Your answers leave me at a loss,” says Guido Kosmehl (FDP), summarizing the egg dance.

The SPD wants to know again what exactly the police mean by “mobile vehicle blocking” and how the specific gap should be closed.

Interior Minister Zieschang blocks it: This is the subject of processing. Something will be said about it in the confidential section.

Because: A police van in front of the Christmas market was missing. The perpetrator raced his heavy BMW X3 through a five-meter-wide driveway, killing five people and injuring 200, some critically.

Interior Minister Zieschang tries to explain why the authorities failed: She says that the perpetrator didn’t fit any mold – and that she could say something in the confidential part of the meeting that might explain this a little more.

Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen came to Germany from Saudi Arabia. There were warnings from abroad, he tweeted hateful threats, and there were complaints and investigations against him. Nevertheless, he was not observed by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt.

People keep asking why the mobile lock was missing. Why there was a 5-meter gap that the perpetrator used to drive to the Christmas market.

Those responsible don’t want to answer. The topic is still being processed, so for now there will only be answers in the confidential part.

Left-wing MP Eva von Angern wants to know how there was a 5-meter gap in the barrier in front of the Magdeburg Christmas market that the perpetrator used.

She always saw the mobile barriers. Why wasn’t she there on Friday?

A police van in front of the Christmas market was missing. The perpetrator raced his heavy BMW X3 through a five-meter-wide driveway, killing five people and injuring 200, some critically.

State Police Director Schwan replied: He could not say in the public part of the meeting why the mobile barrier was missing. He only announced that 27 police officers were on duty at the Christmas market on Friday

Justice Minister Franziska Weidinger announced that investigations are underway against Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen for five cases of murder and 205 cases of attempted murder. His goal was to capture as many people as possible at the Christmas market; he drove specifically towards people.

State Police Director Mario Schwan says that all police authorities were asked to ensure a visible police presence before the Christmas markets began. Mobile and technical barriers were intended to prevent cars from driving into Christmas markets.

But that’s exactly what happened in Magdeburg! Instead of a mobile barrier, there was a 5-meter gap, which the perpetrator took advantage of on Friday – killing five people and injuring hundreds.

These requests from the Ministry of the Interior applied specifically to Magdeburg, Halle and Dessau, asserts Schwan. Why that didn’t work in Magdeburg remains an open question.

What an oath of revelation! According to Interior Minister Zieschang, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the state of Saxony-Anhalt had no information that the perpetrator posed a danger. And this despite various investigations and warnings from abroad, despite threats and hateful Twitter messages.

Bitter: Even three days after the attack, she couldn’t say anything about the security concept of the Christmas market, said Zieschang.