After hostage-taking: Union demands more protection for airports
Following the bloodless end to the hostage-taking at Hamburg Airport, the CDU and CSU in the Bundestag are calling for better protection for German airports.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) must carefully examine whether the legal requirements for airport security are still up to date, CDU/CSU parliamentary group deputy Andrea Lindholz (CSU) told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
When it comes to security standards, Germany "cannot continue to go through the world with naive eyes", emphasized her party colleague and interior expert in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Alexander Throm.
On Saturday, a man in a car broke through the access restrictions to Hamburg Airport and made his way onto the apron of the airport. The background to this was a custody dispute: According to the public prosecutor's office, the man wanted to use the action to force his daughter, who had previously been forcibly abducted from her ex-wife's apartment in Stade (Lower Saxony), to leave for Turkey. The hostage-taker only surrendered to the security forces after around 18 hours of negotiations. The airport was closed for more than 20 hours - tens of thousands of passengers were affected.
Climate activists had paralyzed the airport in July
It was not the first time that the airport's security barriers had been breached. It was only in July that climate activists from the Last Generation group brought the airport to a standstill for hours after cutting a hole in the fence and forcing their way onto the airfield. There have been similar incidents at other German airports.
"After the disruptive actions by climate activists at the airports in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg and the "Scholz-Umarmer" at Frankfurt Airport, we are now experiencing another serious security incident at an airport a short time later," said Lindholz. "The safety of air traffic and therefore the safety of passengers and staff are at stake."
Throm also called for more security, as the situation has worsened significantly over the past two years. "We must also respond to this in the area of critical infrastructure," he told RND. "I expect the federal government, and above all Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser, to immediately review and revise concepts together with the federal states. This also involves the equipment and competencies of our security authorities."
Airport has announced structural measures
Hamburg Airport had already announced structural measures to improve security at the access roads to the airport on Monday. However, spokeswoman Katja Bromm was not yet able to say exactly what these measures would be. However, "it will soon be clear what exactly will be done there". According to the airport, additional security measures are currently being introduced until these measures have been fully implemented.
An arrest warrant was issued for the hostage-taker on Monday evening. According to the public prosecutor's office, the 35-year-old is accused of hostage-taking, kidnapping of minors and offenses under the Weapons Act. Pre-trial detention has been ordered due to the risk of absconding.
The public prosecutor's office also provided further details on the course of the crime. According to the investigation, the Turkish citizen had used a ruse to gain access to his ex-wife's apartment in Stade on Saturday and forcibly abducted their daughter, who lived there, in a rented car. The man is said to have threatened the 38-year-old woman, who had sole custody of their daughter, with a semi-automatic pistol and fired a shot into the air when she called for help.
35-year-old gave up after tough negotiations
When he arrived at the airport, he used the police emergency call to say that he had a bomb in his vehicle and demanded that he and his daughter leave the country for Turkey, the public prosecutor's office added.
Only after tough negotiations with the police did the 35-year-old give up and hand over his physically uninjured daughter to special forces. In addition to the firearm, a homemade dummy explosive belt was also recovered, according to the public prosecutor's office. It was a book wrapped in aluminum foil with wires inserted into it.
- In response to the recent hostage situation at Hamburg Airport, CDU and CSU members in the Bundestag are urging Nancy Faeser, the Federal Interior Minister, to review the legal requirements for airport security, as highlighted by Andrea Lindholz.
- Andrea Lindholz, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group deputy, stated that Germany cannot continue to approach airport security with naivety, citing recent incidents at airports like Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Frankfurt.
- Following the hostage-taking incident, climate activists from 'Last Generation' group had paralyzed Hamburg Airport in July, prompting calls for enhanced security from politicians like Andrea Lindholz and Alexander Throm.
Source: www.dpa.com
