Germany could deploy armed soldiers on its streets for the first time since the Second World War, as Europe went into lockdown in the wake of the Paris attacks.
The German proposals would be highly controversial in a country that remains deeply reluctant to use its armed forces because of its Nazi past.
Ministers raised the idea after Tuesday night’s friendly football match between Germany and Holland in Hanover was cancelled minutes before kick-off following a tip-off from intelligence in another EU state.
According to German media, a group of attackers had planned to set off multiple explosives at the stadium, where Angela Merkel was due to attend the match, and to detonate a bomb in the city centre.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister, has publicly called for the military to be used in the event of coordinated terror attacks on a German city.
“If we had a situation like Paris, perhaps with attacks in three of four places, we’d have to think about whether our police capabilities are enough,” Mr Schäuble told the Rheinische Post newspaper. “What can we do to support security forces that are already overwhelmed on some normal weekends in the face of great challenges?” » | Justin Huggler in Berlin and Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, November 19, 2015
RHEINISCHE POST: Schäuble will Diskussion über Bundeswehr-Einsatz im Inneren » | Quelle: RP | Mittwoch, 18. November 2015
