Soaring knife crime in Germany, which many police officials openly say is directly tied to mass immigration, has now resulted in warrantless searches at German Christmas markets. In a news segment produced by state media broadcaster SWR, the clip reveals German police conducting controls on a German Christmas market in Ludwigshafen, where police were filmed confiscating a pocket knife from an elderly woman.
In the SWR video, the narrator states that the police had not discovered any pocket knives up until that point that day. However, once police stopped an elderly woman and searched her bag, she was found to have a Swiss Army knife in her bag’s side pocket. The police then told her it would need to be confiscated.
🇩🇪🎄 German police are now confiscating pocket knives from elderly women at Christmas markets.
Exploding knife crime in Germany, which the police openly says is tied to mass immigration, has led to a security state at German Christmas markets. pic.twitter.com/nRTQRIOr2d
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 17, 2024The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, has already commented on the video, writing on X: “Deliberate loss of state control at the borders leads to the illegal immigration of countless knife attackers – and the state harasses its own citizens in response. You can’t make this up!”
Vorsätzlicher staatlicher Kontrollverlust an den Grenzen führt zur illegalen Einwanderung zahlloser Messerstecher – und der Staat drangsaliert als Reaktion seine eigenen Bürger. Kannste dir nicht ausdenken! #DeshalbAfD #AfD pic.twitter.com/HQCPACGJGU
— Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) December 17, 2024The video is the latest evidence that Christmas markets, once seen as a safe location to enjoy the holiday season with friends and family, have become a target where violence could flare or even a terrorist could strike.
As the original video states, this is the first year that knife checks can be conducted at German Christmas markets without reasonable suspicion, and police are taking advantage of the ban on knives in such markets to conduct warrantless checks.
Many Germans in the SWR video shrug at the checks or say they make them feel safer, but many also lament the security state that necessitates such checks. If voting intentions are scrutinized, immigration and security remain top issues as Germans head to the polls in February for snap elections.
Weidel herself is also growing in popularity and has just polled evenly with front-runner for Chancellor, Friedrich Merz (CDU), with 21 percent of Germans saying that they would like Weidel to be chancellor, while the same figure backed Merz. Merz’s CDU party is polling over 10 points ahead of the AfD in the run-up to February elections. The AfD, however, has risen to 20 percent in the latest Insa survey.
Notably, migrant crime and knife attacks have plagued Germany in the past few years. Foreigners now make up a record share of violent criminals despite accounting for only 15 percent of the population. On trains and buses, their proportion of reported crimes is even higher.
NEW: 🇩🇪 Foreigners commit 59% of all sexual crimes at German trains and train stations, the latest crime data shows.
Sexual violence crimes have doubled between 2019 and 2024.
Foreigners are 15% of Germany's population.
(Source: German Federal Police) pic.twitter.com/WQpbyap6Xm
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) November 21, 2024Some of the victims of knife attacks have spoken up about the violence, with one father even confronting Chancellor Olaf Scholz — who lost his no confidence vote just yesterday — on national television about the death of his child due to a violent illegal immigrant.
His daughter was murdered by an illegal Palestinian migrant, stabbed 38 times, along with her boyfriend.
17-year-old Ann-Marie is gone, but her father won't let her memory die. He delivered a message to Olaf Scholz's face:
"There are parents standing at the grave or coffin of… pic.twitter.com/JDslDGKFA4
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 16, 2024Meanwhile, confiscating the tiny pocket knives of elderly women in Germany is unlikely to be an effective tool to combat the violence many Germans increasingly have to fear. In fact, top police officials openly tie mass immigration to growing crime and insecurity.
🇩🇪‼️ "Germany is no longer a safe country… The migration crisis is first and foremost a crime crisis."
German police union (DPoIG) chairman Manuel Ostermann makes a major statement following the Solingen terror attack by a Syrian Islamist. pic.twitter.com/ZolmrLnMHa
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 28, 2024In November, a 17-year-old Turkish male was arrested for planning a Christmas market terror attack in Germany.
At the end of last month, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also stated that German security authorities said that while there were no indications of a “concrete” threat, Christmas markets could be targeted by groups with “Islamic motives.”
Germany’s domestic security agency, the BfV, said that Germany was a target for “various terrorist organizations,” which includes the Islamic State group, and that Christmas markets could be targeted due to “symbolism,” i.e., their expression of “Christian values” and the “embodiment of Western culture and way of life.”
In other countries, similar threats exist. A 26-year-old father was stabbed earlier this month while defending his young daughter at the Cannes Christmas market. French media reported how the victim’s 7-year-old daughter was hassled by a “group of young people” while ice skating.
A 26-year-old father was stabbed on Saturday evening while defending his young daughter at the Cannes Christmas market.
French media reported how the victim’s 7-year-old daughter was hassled by a "group of young people" while ice skating.
Witnesses say the father intervened to… pic.twitter.com/1SkZq0grED
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 2, 2024High security levels are now featured at Christmas markets around the country, including police checks, bomb-sniffing dogs, and security barriers to prevent truck attacks.
WATCH: Christians attending Midnight Mass at Cologne Cathedral are protected by a large police presence and sniffer dogs following the credible threat of a planned Islamist terror attack.
Cologne’s police chief Michael Esser said all visitors would be screened ahead of Christmas… pic.twitter.com/CK5WCZEySC
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 25, 2023
