The leading candidate for Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin’s upcoming state election accused The Left party on Monday of “denying reality” regarding Islamism following its response to a suspected terrorist attack on the city’s Pride events.
CDU candidate Stefan Evers’ criticism followed an Instagram post by a Berlin district branch of the hard-left party that initially did not refer to investigators’ suspicion that Saturday’s attack was Islamist-motivated.
One woman was killed and 29 other people injured on the fringes of Berlin Pride when a man reportedly drove into a crowd with a van and attacked passers-by with a machete before fleeing, leading to a day-long manhunt that ended with him being shot dead by police on Sunday evening.
The 21-year-old, Berlin-born suspect, was known to police and was believed to have been part of the Islamist scene.
In a social media post published after the attack, The Left’s Neukölln district branch blamed the rise of right-wing and anti-feminist forces for increasing hostility towards LGBT people and argued that such rhetoric paved the way for attacks.
Speaking to broadcaster Welt TV, Evers said: “Denying reality when dealing with political Islam and Islamism is part of the problem with this Left Party.” He also accused the party of tolerating anti-Semitism and hostility towards police officers, adding: “I do not want to see this party in government in Berlin. I will do everything I can to prevent that.”
Evers said The Left party had failed to recognize the scale of the problem and lacked the courage to describe it openly.
Following criticism, the party added a clarification on Monday, saying its reference to right-wing and anti-feminist forces evidently included Islamic State and other Islamist extremist groups.