The upcoming festive season could see a “huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union”, BBC News reports.
The head of the European Commission for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, has said that the polarisation of society caused by the war between Israel and Hamas increases the risk of violence. She made the statement days after a tourist was stabbed to death in Paris. Ms Johansson said the EU was allocating an extra €30m (£26m) to provide extra security. She noted ahead of a meeting of EU interior ministers.
We saw it recently in Paris, unfortunately we have seen it earlier as well.
German Interior Minister Nancy Feather also told reporters that the EU should closely monitor threats and propaganda because of the high “risk of further emotionalisation and radicalisation of violent Islamist criminals”.
Europe has been rocked by a spike in hate crimes since Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and holding many others hostage in Gaza. The Israeli incursion into Gaza has killed more than 16,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
EU ministers were meeting after Saturday’s deadly attack near the Eiffel Tower, in which a 23-year-old German tourist named Collin B was stabbed to death and his girlfriend and a British tourist were injured. The young German couple had visited Disneyland Paris, the Louvre and had taken selfies with the Eiffel Tower in the background before the attack.
Police said the 26-year-old French suspect, named Armand R, who was from a non-religious Iranian family, had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The man arrested at the scene had previously been in prison for planning a terrorist plot in the La Défense business district near Paris. He was questioned by French police in 2020 for links to Abdullah Anzorov, who killed teacher Samuel Paty. Counter-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said Armand R.’s mother had expressed concern about his behaviour, but there was no previous reason to take further action against him.
Germany is also on high alert for possible attacks. Last week, two men were detained in different parts of the country on suspicion of planning an attack by militant Islamists on a Christmas market in the city of Leverkusen. And a 20-year-old Iraqi who arrived in Germany last year is in custody on suspicion of planning a knife attack on a Christmas market in Hannover.
Stefan Kramer, head of German domestic intelligence in the eastern state of Thuringia, warned of the “significant potential for danger” posed by Hamas supporters not only to Christmas markets but also to major sporting events such as the Paris Olympics and next year’s Euro 2024 football championships.
