‘Schengen Must Go,’ Populist Politicians Say Following Deadly Berlin Attack

Flowers and candles are placed near the Christmas market at Breitscheid square in Berlin, Germany, December 23, 2016 © Hannibal Hanschke / Reuters

Right-wing and populist figures have called for an end to free movement in Europe in the wake of the Berlin truck attack, after the chief suspect was found to have fled through France all the way to Italy.

Nationalist and Eurosceptic politicians have renewed their calls to scrap the Schengen zone after it transpired that Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Tunisian national wanted for the Berlin Christmas market attack, made it over 500 miles from the scene of the crime to Milan, Italy, where he was shot dead by police officers – due to a routine patrol, not the Europe-wide manhunt.

Amri, who became Europe’s most wanted man following the massacre in which 12 people died, was found with train tickets showing he travelled through Chambery, France. The fact that the suspected terrorist was able to get that far with nearly all of Europe’s law enforcement agencies on his tail was a sign that the current system is broken, Schengen critics say.

"If the man shot in Milan is the Berlin killer, then the Schengen Area is proven to be a risk to public safety,” tweeted Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party which spearheaded the Brexit vote earlier this year. “It must go.”

In the Netherlands, Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders questioned both the Schengen zone and Europe’s immigration policy.

Beppe Grillo, leader of Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement, wrote in his blog that “Italy has become a pathway for terrorists, who we are not able to recognize thanks to Schengen,” adding that “we must act now.” He also praised Cristian Movio and Luca Scatà, the two officers who confronted Amri, calling them “secular saints.”

The strongest reaction came from Marine Le Pen, 2017 presidential candidate for France’s National Front. In a statement published on her website, Le Pen referred to the Schengen zone as a “security disaster.”

“Deprived of permanent national borders and customs infrastructure at the level, France, like most of its neighbors, is reduced to learning after the fact that an armed and dangerous jihadist was probably wandering on its soil,” she said.

“I reiterate my commitment to give France full control over its national borders and to put an end to the Schengen agreement. The myth of total free movement in Europe, to which my opponents still cling in this presidential election, must be buried.”

The Schengen zone covers the territory of 26 European states, including both EU and non-EU members. Under the agreement, which was signed in 1995, border controls between European countries were abolished, allowing free movement of people and goods across much of the continent. This has recently become strained with the migrant crisis and the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. A number of experts identify the Schengen zone as a weakness in European security, allowing drugs and arms smuggling, as well as criminals and terrorists to travel around unimpeded. France reinstated its internal border controls after the Paris attacks in November 2015, which killed 130 people.

Schengen Zone

Berlin Christmas Market Attacker Shot Dead in Milan

Berlin attack suspect confirmed dead after Milan shootout – Italian interior minister

Italian Police officers work next to the body of Anis Amri, the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market truck attack, in a suburb of the northern Italian city of Milan, Italy December 23, 2016. © Stringer / Reuters

Anis Amri, a Tunisian national wanted throughout Europe after the truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, was killed by the Italian Police during a shootout in Milan, the country’s interior minister has confirmed.

Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti has confirmed that Anis Amri, wanted after the truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market, was killed during a shootout with police officers in the suburbs of Milan on Friday.

Minniti told a news conference in Rome that “without any shadow of a doubt” the man was Amri, whose identity has been confirmed by fingerprints.

The minister said the officers were on routine patrol and stopped Amri in a Milan suburb on Friday morning. The man pulled out a pistol and opened fire, injuring one of the officers, but was shot dead as the patrol returned fire. Minniti did not elaborate on the issue, adding that his agency is in contact with the Germans, and further developments may come soon.

Peter Frank, Germany’s federal prosecutor, told reporters later on Friday that the investigation is far from over. Investigators will focus on uncovering Amri’s contacts to determine if he had accomplices or was a member of a terrorist network.

He added that it is also crucial to know how Amri had got to Italy despite suggestions that his injuries would have prevented him from covering long distances.

Meanwhile, Milan police say they had received no information warning them that Amri could be in the city, according to Reuters.

“We had no intelligence that he could be in Milan,” Police Chief Antonio De Iesu said at a news conference. “They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they would have been much more cautious.”

Earlier on Friday, Italian authorities said Amri was killed in a shootout with police in Milan on Thursday night, according to Reuters, citing a security source. The surprise report first appeared in the Italian magazine Panorama.

Conflicting news reports previously suggested the opposite. The German Police claimed that the suspect was hiding in Berlin. On Thursday, RBB released CCTV footage showing him at a local mosque one day after the attack. The police said Amri was injured, and therefore would not risk travelling too far.

But then, Berlin Police have botched this case right from the start. De Maiziere need to investigate how badly this file was handled.

On Friday, a man whose appearance matched that of the suspect was spotted in the northern Danish city of Aalborg, local police said in a tweet. According to police, the man, aged between 20 and 30, was “wearing a black hat, glasses, black beard and was unshaven.”

Police warned people to keep away from the area where he was spotted.

Investigators believe that Tunisian suspect Anis Amri was indeed behind the wheel of the truck that plowed into the Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 and injuring 48. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that fingerprints and other “new evidence” made it “highly probable” that Amri was the actual perpetrator of the Monday attack.

Berlin Police Behaving Very Strangely

Internet abuzz after PEGIDA founder shared info on

Berlin attacker long before German police

Workers clear the site of the Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, December 21, 2016, after a truck ploughed through a crowd at the Christmas market on Monday night. © Christian Mang / Reuters

PEGIDA founder Lutz Bachmann, who tweeted that the primary suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack was “a Tunisian Muslim” a day ahead of authorities, triggered speculation about his sources of information and landed police into hot water for lagging behind.

Bachman posted the tweet at 10:16pm local time on December 19, citing “internal police information” he confirmed with Germany’s Public Prosecutor General. A truck ploughed into the Berlin Christmas market crowd, killing 12 people and injuring 48 more, shortly after 8:00pm on Monday.

On Tuesday, police identified the suspect they had detained as a 23-year old Pakistani asylum-seeker. Before that no information other than that “the situation is unclear” had been available. The detainee denied he was involved in the attack and was released later the same day.

Police reported that they found a young Tunisian man's identity documents in the cabin of the truck used in the attack only on Wednesday afternoon.

That's a day and a half after the massacre and nearly a day and a half after Bachman Tweeted about the suspect.

After that Bachman produced a second tweet that said, “so my info 1h after the attack was right? Police are looking for a Tunisian man.”

It was actually 2 hours after the attack.

Later, a European arrest warrant for the suspect, of Tunisian descent, was issued by the Federal Prosecutor.

The situation raised questions about how Bachman managed to get ahead of authorities as well as what took so long for police to start searching for the right suspect.

In response to a storm of questions regarding his informants, Bachman replied on Twitter that the only thing one needs in such cases is “the right connections and a whistleblower that is sick of the lies.”

However, later, Bachman backtracked tweeting, “here is the truth, I only used my crystal ball, no informants!”

Sure! Were you lying about the Public Prosecutor's confirmation? Can anyone tell the truth anymore?

German police reportedly denied all the allegations that a source from law enforcement could have leaked information to Bachman.

“This clearly, one hundred percent impossible. Berlin police came across the ID documents indicating that the perpetrator was a Tunisian on Tuesday afternoon,” police spokesperson Winfrid Wenzel said, according to FAZ. 

But Bachman reported it Monday evening? And, apparently the Public Prosecutor confirmed it. So who's lying? Was it a lucky guess by Bachman? Why would he choose Tunisia when it could have been someone from a dozen countries?

It seems clear that the police went down a  rabbit hole with the arrest and interrogation of the Pakistani man, and are too embarrassed to admit it. Meanwhile, they could have had the information on Amri out nearly 36 hours before they did. That's a lot of time to give a terrorist to disappear. If police had released the warrant at the same time as Bachman Tweeted, he would still have been in Germany. God only knows where he is now! He could be anywhere in Europe.

The attacker was identified as 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, who had been tracked by German authorities for months before surveillance operations were called off in September.

Amri arrived in Germany in 2015 at the peak of the refugee influx after he served a term in Italy, Ralf Jaeger, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia said, according to AP.

In July 2016 his refugee application was declined. However, he was not immediately deported right as he did not have any valid identity papers. In August, migration authorities made an effort to help Amri secure a replacement passport.

Amri was also being tracked by US intelligence, according to the New York Times. He had reportedly searched for information on making explosive devices and had communicated with IS at least once, via the Telegram messenger app, said an American security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He was also on a US no-fly list.

Terrorist Attacks in Europe in 2016

This is a list of terrorist attacks only. It does not include those attacks that were thwarted by police. Nor does it include the thousands of sexual or child sex attacks that have occurred in Europe this year at the hands of Muslim immigrants. That's a whole 'nuther story which I hope to compile before the end of the year.

Note: all the attacks listed below were committed by Muslims

Firefighter stand beside a truck at a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, December 19, 2016

after the truck ploughed into the crowded Christmas market in the German capital

© Pawel Kopczynski / Reuters

Monday’s suspected terrorist attack on Berlin’s Christmas market and the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov, which has been condemned as an act of terrorism, add to the deadly wave of attacks that have rocked Europe this year.

RT takes a look back at the major terrorist incidents which occurred since the November 2015 Paris attacks, which left 130 victims dead, and marked 2016 as another bloody year for Europe.

Brussels bombings, March 22 – 35 killed, including three suicide bombers

Three explosions hit Brussels during the morning rush hour. Two blasts went off in the departure hall of Brussels’ Zaventem Airport while another bomb exploded at the Maalbeek Metro station. Some 300 people were injured. Belgium responded by raising the terrorist threat to the highest level.

Munich stabbing attack,  May 10 – 1 killed

One person was killed and three injured at a train station near Munich when they were attacked by a knife-wielding man, reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar”. Officials later reported the man has mental health issues and would not stand trial as a result.

French police couple stabbed on June 13 – 3 killed, including the attacker

Two police officers, who were married to each other, were stabbed to death at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris in what French president Francois Hollande described as "unquestionably a terrorist act".

The attacker, Larossi Abballa, pledged allegiance to Islamic State and previously spent time in jail over jihadist links. He was killed by police special forces.

Nice truck terror attack, July 14 – 87 killed, 400+ injured

Eighty-six people were killed and 434 people injured when a truck plowed into a crowd in Nice during Bastille Day celebrations. The Tunisian truck driver was killed by police. It was reported he shouted “Allahu Akbar” before the attack.

President Hollande responded to this by extending the national state of emergency, which had been in place since the Paris attacks.

Ansbach bombing Germany, July 24 – suicide bomber killed, 15 injured

Fifteen people were injured, four seriously, in a suicide bombing outside a wine bar in Ansbach, Germany.

The bomber, identified as Mohammad Daleel, was a 27-year-old Syrian refugee who had pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State.

Normandy church attack, July 26 – 3 killed, including two attackers

An 84-year-old priest was killed in an attack at a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy. IS later claimed responsibility for the incident.

The priest was among six people taken hostage by the attackers before they were killed by police.

Hamburg stabbing attack, October 16 – 1 killed

A 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed near the Alster lake bridge in Hamburg. His girlfriend who was thrown into a lake by the assailant swam to safety.

On October 20 IS claimed responsibility for the killing through their news site Amaq however, following an investigation, police later said any links to the extremist group were unlikely.