German police chief plays down security threat from refugees

On Wednesday, French police raided a flat in Paris, surrounding a building where an Islamist militant suspected of masterminding the attacks was thought to be holed up.

Germany should not be cowed by the threat of Islamic State violence, the head of the domestic intelligence services said on Wednesday, after an worldwide soccer game was canceled due to fears of an attack.

Merkel said Germany would help France to hunt down the perpetrators and backers of the attacks, promising a joint battle to defend European values.

“There is a threat level that should be taken seriously, but we have no concrete indications of planning for an attack”, he said.

With security worries running high in Europe after shootings and bombings in Paris last Friday which killed at least 129 people, BfV president Hans-Georg Maassen said Germany, like other Western states, is an enemy of Islamic State (IS).

According to Reuters news agency, Muench said that German police know of about 750 German citizens who had traveled to Syria and Iraq to join terrorist group Daesh.

Bavarian allies have cranked up pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to reverse her “open-door” refugee policy, saying the deadly attacks in Paris underlined the need for tougher measures to control the influx of migrants.

Merkel’s mantra “we can manage” rings hollow to a few voters and has cost her support in the last couple of months.

Germany’s Angela Merkel today defended the cancellation on security grounds of a football match meant to honour the Paris attack victims, while her interior minister endured mockery for leaving the public in the dark about the reason.

An INSA poll published on Tuesday showed the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) becoming the third biggest party for the first time.

Merkel’s conservative bloc rose one point to 35 percent with their center-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners shedding 0.5 points to 23.5 percent.