Germany: after the Solingen bombing, crackdown on asylum and weapons. Deported 28 Afghans

Asylum seekers will be excluded from financial benefits in Germany if they have applied in other European countries.

Refugees who return to their home countries without good reason risk losing their protection status. "If someone takes a holiday in their home country, where they claim they are not safe, then they must lose their protection status," Buschmann said. From this rule, Ukrainian refugees will be excluded.

Berlin will also push for a reform of the Common European Asylum System to simplify transfers and expulsions, and will also try to allow the expulsion of people who have committed serious crimes or are considered terrorist threats in Afghanistan and Syria. This is a very controversial development, since it exposes those fleeing from the two authoritarian regimes, where respect for human rights is at zero, to serious risks.

On the security front, the package includes stricter rules on the possession of weapons, a general ban on switchblades and the carrying of knives at festivals, sporting events and fairs.

To combat 'violent Islamism' and identify suspects, law enforcement agencies will be able to use biometric data from publicly accessible online sources for facial recognition. Also to counter Islamist organisations, the government will also strengthen the powers of the national intelligence agency on financial investigations.

Federal police officers will be authorised to use Tasers and checks for gun permits will include new federal agencies to prevent extremists from getting hold of them.

Immediately after the attack, Scholz had announced a clampdown, urged on by the leader of the Cdu, Friedrich Merz, who not only criticised the government but also proposed cooperation on the issue. The Cdu also feels threatened by the Afd's advance in East Germany and aims to gather votes in the same electoral basin.

Scholz accepted the offer to discuss reforms with Merz and the two held a summit. The government rejected the more radical proposals made by Merz, such as declaring a national emergency or banning Syrians and Afghans from entering Germany.

The newly enacted package will have to be voted on by the two chambers of parliament.

A few days ago, the Minister of Justice himself, Buschmann, had spoken out against the blocking of the admission of migrants from Syria and Afghanistan, invoked by the Cdu. 'It is a legal problem for us to say that we will no longer accept certain people into the EU or Germany,' he had said in an interview with Ard. "I think we have to talk about the numbers, we have to talk about the distribution in Europe, we have to talk about the protection of the external borders, but we cannot simply say that nobody can come to us anymore," he had added.

The repatriation of Syrians, Buschmann explained, would be possible, 'because there are regions in Syria where people can be safe'. Despite the endless civil war that plagues the country. The situation in Aghanistan, for which a 'solution' is needed, is different. The Taliban regime has just enacted yet another draconian clampdown on civil liberties, especially for women, which has provoked condemnation (also) from the European Commission.

From words to deeds. On the very day the clampdown was announced, several Afghans were deported. A Qatar Airways charter jet took off from Leipzig for Kabul at 6.56 a.m., carrying 28 Afghans brought to Leipzig from various German states. Each deportee received EUR 1,000 in cash before boarding.

Preparations had been underway for a good two months. As reported by Der Spiegel, the German government did not negotiate directly with the Kabul rulers. Instead, it asked the Emirate of Qatar, which has relations with the Taliban, for help. Thus, the taboo in Germany against dealing directly with the Taliban, an option that is especially frowned upon in Annalena Baerbock's foreign ministry, was circumvented.

"These were Afghan citizens with criminal records who had no right to remain in Germany and against whom deportation orders had been issued," explained government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. However, Berlin assures that it will not take any steps towards normalising relations with the Taliban.

Also on 29 August, the German authorities started deportation proceedings for the former head of the Hamburg Islamic Centre Association (Izh), Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, who will have to leave the country by 11 September, on pain of deportation to Iran. The Izh was banned five weeks ago because it is considered an extremist organisation controlled by Iran. The mosque in the centre was closed.

Mofatteh, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution - German domestic intelligence - was the deputy official of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Germany.