1 of 2 | German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a press conference at the CDU headquarters in Berlin on Monday. Photo by Clemens Bilan\/EPA<\/p>\n
July 27 (UPI) — German lawmakers called for stricter anti-terrorism laws Monday, two days after a 21-year-old drove a vehicle into a crowd at Berlin’s annual Pride event, killing a woman.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, said individuals considered to be security threats should be monitored more closely going forward. The suspect in Saturday’s attack at Tiergarten park had been released in May from prison after being sentenced for preparing a serious act of violence by trying to join the Islamic State<\/a> terror group in Syria, The Guardian<\/a> reported.\n<\/p>\n “If we cannot detain such potential offenders, we must do everything we can to restrict their freedom of movement as much as possible,” Merz said in a news conference, The New York Times<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n “It was an attack on our free society. We will do everything to protect and defend this freedom, this openness and the liberal values of our society.”<\/p>\n Police shot and killed Abdul Ballout on Sunday after a manhunt led them to a confrontation with him at an allotment garden complex in the Spandau district of Berlin. He’s accused of driving a vehicle into the crowd at the Pride event before then attacking multiple people with a machete.\n<\/p>\n