Defiant Angela Merkel defends refugee stance

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday rebuffed calls to reverse her welcoming stance toward refugees in the wake of a series of brutal attacks in the country. Ms Merkel, who interrupted a summ-er holiday to face the me-dia in Berlin, said the four assaults within a week were “shocking, oppressive and depressing” but not a sign that authorities had lost control.

The German leader said the assailants “wanted to undermine our sense of community, our openness and our willingness to help people in need”.

“We firmly reject this,” she said at a wide-ranging news conference.

Ms Merkel repeated her rallying cry from last year when she opened the borders to people fleeing war and persecution, many from Syria, which brought nearly 1.1 million migrants and refugees to the country in 2015.

“I am still convinced today that ‘we can do it’ — it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge in times of globalisation,” she said.

“We have already achieved very, very much in the last 11 months.”

Ms Merkel was speaking after a axe rampage, a shooting spree, a knife attack and a suicide bombing stunned Germany, leaving 13 dead, including three assailants, and dozens wounded.

Ms Merkel said that she would not allow jihadists, following a series of deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and the US state of Florida as well as Germany, to keep her government from being guided by reason and compassion.

“Despite the great unea-se these events inspire, fear can’t be the guide for political decisions,” she said. “It is my deep conviction that we cannot let our way of life be destroyed.”

Meanwhile, German police has searched a mosque and eight apartments in Hildesheim that are believed to be a hotbed of a radical Salafist community, the interior minister of the northern state of Lower Saxony said on Thursday. Germany is on high alert after a spate of attacks since July 18 left 15 people dead.