German leaders paid tribute on Sunday to the three people killed in the August 23 knife attack by a suspected Islamic extremist, which has pushed immigration back to the top of the country’s political agenda.  Eight people also were wounded in the attack at a “Festival of Diversity” marking the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen in western Germany. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a memorial event in a city theatre that he was “relieved and thankful” that none of them is now in serious danger. The 26-year-old Syrian suspect, who was arrested a day after the attack, was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria last year but reportedly disappeared for a time and avoided deportation.

 In recent days, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has announced new restrictions on knives and new measures to ease deportations. On Friday, it deported Afghan nationals to their homeland for the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, following up on a pledge made in June after a previous attack.

 “It is a horrifying crime that brings us together today, carried out by a man who, according to everything we know, sought and and found protection here, and abused this protection so terribly,” Steinmeier said at the memorial, also attended by Scholz and other top officials.  “That is also intolerable.”Steinmeier said that “we are for good reason a country that takes in people who seek protection from political persecution and war”.

He added that “we want to remain that country, but ultimately we can only do so if the number of those who are not entitled to this special protection does not overburden us”.

 “We must make every effort to implement the entry rules that exist and the ones that are now being drawn up,” he said, adding that “this must be a priority in the coming years”.

 The attack in Solingen also has reawakened painful memories of a racist firebomb attack on a Turkish family’s home there in which five women and girls were killed in 1993. Four young Germans were later convicted.

“There was already one shocking Solingen attack, now a second,” Mayor Tim Kurzbach said. “Why always Solingen?”