Central European leaders have stoked migrants fears and security concerns after Monday truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. Slovak, Czech and Hungarian leaders reiterated their fears that the influx of refugees poses a severe security threat to the security of the continent.
“The facts are simple: a migrant who arrived in Germany and got refugee status … is now interrogated as a suspect responsible for this heinous, repugnant crime,” said Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and added that he thought that “the cup of patience is beginning to spill over and Europe’s public will rightfully expect rather stronger [anti-migration] measures.” Mr. Fico also said earlier this year that Slovakia would accept a small number of Christian refugees but did not want Muslims “who would like to start building mosques all over our land and trying to change the nature, culture and values of the state”.
President of the neighboring Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, is one of the most vocal critics of the European immigration policy and his spokesperson commented that “as for the horrifying crime in Berlin, the president regrets to say that it confirms his warning about terrorist attacks”. Mr. Ovcacek added that “it is now apparent that the [tighter] security measures that have been introduced at Prague Castle are important and well founded. Terrorist attacks are coming closer to the Czech Republic.”
Hungarian Prime Minister, who, along with his Slovak counterpart, initiated a legal action to stop an EU refugee relocation program and quotas, commented that the Berlin attacks were not just an attack on “the citizens of Berlin, but the whole of Europe and our shared Christian values took a blow”. A manhunt is currently underway for a 24-year-old Tunisian national Anis Amri who is believed to have committed the Monday’s truck attack, which left 12 people dead and 48 injured at Breitsheidplatz in Berlin.
