The Express - that bastion of even-handedness and tolerance - has detected yet another story it can spin with the intention of frightening the readers. It has all the ingredients: Germans (equals bad), knife crime (also bad), migrants (definitely bad), and above all Scary Muslims (tm) who are not only bad, but speak foreign. All these allegedly came together earlier today in a fatal stabbing at a railway station.
The rest of the story continues in the same way: “Whether he had links to the thriving Islamist scene in Germany is yet to be established by investigators … However police are investigating if he branded his victims 'Ihr Ungläubigen' - you non-believers - before he stabbed them … Authorities working to identify the knifeman, who used a 10cm blade, believe the his motive may have been ‘political’”. And there was more.
“Police will be investigating possible links to terrorism … Conflicting media reports have identified the young man as both an asylum seeker and a radicalised German-born who converted to Islam … Germany is currently playing a supporting role in the fight against the barbaric Islamic State (ISIS) … It comes after weeks of rising tensions between Germans and immigrants at a time when national intelligence agencies have been warning of potential Islamist linked terror plots”. And yet more.
“More than 800 German jihadists are believed to have joined evil ISIS and other terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria … The terror group claimed responsibility for the horrific terror attacks in Brussels that left 35 people dead … In the UK a terror drill took place in Manchester's Trafford Centre in a training exercise to test anti terror-police's response to a Paris or Brussels-type attack on civilians”. As Sir Sean nearly said, I think we got the point.
And it’s not just the Express: Metro has told “Local media reported that witnesses had said the young man had yelled ‘Allahu akbar’ (‘God is greatest’) during the attack … Last August, two German-speaking jihadists claiming to belong to the Islamic State jihadist group threatened Germany with attacks in an online execution video, urging their ‘brothers and sisters’ in Germany and Austria to commit attacks against ‘unbelievers’ at home”.
A terror attack? Sadly for scare merchants, no it isn’t. As the BBC has told, “a spokesman for Bavaria state's interior ministry said that ‘so far we have no evidence for an Islamist motive … We have found the man had psychological and drug problems,’ Oliver Platzer told AFP news agency. He said the investigation was continuing … The suspect has been identified as a German national, apparently from the Hessen area of central Germany”.
Still, it keeps Express readers frightened and ignorant, so that’s all right, then.
[UPDATE 11 May 1320 hours: a local news site in Bavaria has confirmed that the man accused of the fatal stabbing had no links with Islam, or any terror group.
The man, identified simply as Paul H., had left his home some time ago, worked and toured his way around Europe, Egypt and Australia, and had then returned, only to become involved with techno and then trance festivals, where he had apparently done quantities of currently illegal substances which had exacerbated existing mental health problems.
His family had tried to get him sectioned - or the German equivalent - last weekend, but he was released following a psychiatric examination. The rest we all know.
One nerdy point a Zelo Street regular has pointed out is that the station where the stabbing took place is in the village of Grafing Bahnhof, which grew up around a main-line station a few kilometres from the town of Grafing (this is a difficult concept for British papers). It's the first stop for main-line Regional Express trains heading out of Munich towards the Austrian border.
It's possible that the man had boarded a late night RE and was thrown off at Grafing Bahnhof as he didn't have a ticket - hence his presence so early the next morning.
What you will not read in the Express, or indeed any other mainstream UK title]
Funny, that.
ReplyDelete"Intelligence" services have just carried out a simulated terrorist attack in Manchester while shouting the same thing.
Meanwhile, it's raining in Manchester.
More as it comes in.
News, that is, not rain.
Other German sources mention he only seemed to kick off after people asked why he was wandering around the station with no shoes on, a question which others may care to ask. After all, I don't recall that being the first act in previous attacks.
ReplyDeleteHow ever did we cope with the IRA?
ReplyDeleteWhether Muslim or not, that behaviour constitutes as terror.
ReplyDelete@Anon 1250
ReplyDeleteby that standard any act of serious violence could be classed as terror. Late night drunks on Liverpool-Crewe trains (also recently ended in a stabbing), West Ham fans last night, where would you draw the line??
It depends on severity and what was at disposal.
DeleteExplosives is at the same level as guns and warfare.
Group mentality, gangs.
@Anon - "that behaviour constitutes as terror."......"Explosives is at the same level....." - the german bloke didn't have explosives, just a knife and mental health issues (like many who use British trains late at night).
ReplyDeleteHe has finally been detained in a secure institution, 3 days after his family asked and only after an innocent person died.
Theres more descriptives for terrorism than people care to think.
DeleteDark arts, media bullying.
You know....
@Anon
ReplyDeleteyou could add poor grammar.....
But what have any of them got to do with a bloke in need of specialist mental care who was allowed to wander halfway across Germany whilst their authorities adopted a very British attitude of saying it wasn't their problem and waited to see what would happen?