Loading ...Syrian migrants captured a bomb suspect in Germany after he escaped police
Rick Noak
The Washington Post
When heavily armed police moved in on the apartment of a terrorism suspect in the German city of Chemnitz on Saturday morning, they could only watch as the 22-year-old Syrian made a quick escape.
Amid criticism that the police operation was flawed, scores of officers searched without much success for the suspect, Jaber Albakr. In the end, Albakr was caught — but not by police. Some Syrian migrants recognized him from wanted posters, overpowered him, tied him up in their apartment and called police early Monday.
When police commandos arrived at the apartment in the eastern German city of Leipzig, they found Albakr bound with a power cord, according to media reports. Officials declined to confirm that detail and the names of the informants, citing safety concerns.
One of the Syrians, identified as Mohamed A., told German television on Monday that Albakr offered them money if they allowed him to escape. “I’m so angry at him,” Mohamed A. said. “I don’t accept something like that — especially not here in Germany, which opened its doors to us.”
On Twitter, the Syrians were celebrated by many as “heroes” and praised for their “courage.” Others used the incident to lash out at anti-refugee movements and parties, such as the AfD party. “This appears to be the vigilante group the AfD and Pegida always sound off about,” wrote oneuser, referring to Germany’s anti-Islam Pegida movement, whose members have called for establishing vigilante groups to patrol neighborhoods and prevent refugees from supposedly committing crimes.
News of the arrest spread quickly in Germany on Monday morning. Many commentators on social media cited it as proof that blaming all refugees for the actions and intent of a radical few is unfair. Anti-refugee tensions in the country have been on the rise for months, primarily after mass sexual assaults of women on New Year’s Eve in German cities that were blamed on recently arrived migrants. Especially in eastern Germany — where Albakr was arrested — those tensions have frequently erupted into violence or spurred arson attacks on refugee accommodation centers.
Experts have warned that such tensions could marginalize refugees further, which in turn could increase the risk of radicalization and attacks. In a handbook released last year, the Islamic State militant group itself suggested that tensions between locals and Muslim refugees would play into the hands of extremist groups. “When Muslims and Mosques will be attacked by neo-Nazis in protests, Muslims will do counter-protests alongside with antifascist groups,” the propaganda book’s authors speculated. “This is how the future Jihad in Europe will begin.”
Authorities in Germany have repeatedly warned against escalating tensions and were quick to thank the Syrians who helped apprehend Albakr.
Germany has been spared the kind of mass-casualty attacks by Islamic State-affiliated operatives that have hit other European nations. However, smaller attacks plotted by refugees have occurred over the summer, straining Germans’ trust. Chancellor Angela Merkel — who welcomed about 900,000 refugees last year — saw her approval ratings plummet within days, although support for her has since recovered.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière suggested Monday that Albakr was planning an attack of a scale comparable with the attacks in Paris and Brussels in the past year. “The preparations in Chemnitz resemble the preparation of the attacks in Paris and Brussels,” de Maizière said at a news conference on Monday.