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Police warn of shoddy terrorism protection

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Police warn of shoddy terrorism protection
Photo: DPA

After recent terrorist threats against Germany, the police union GdP has warned of poor security across the country, daily Ruhr Nachrichten reported on Monday.

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“The situation is very serious,” GdP head Konrad Freiberg told the Dortmund paper. “Everyone is talking about bailouts for banks and companies. We finally need a functioning protective shield against terrorism,” he said.

Since September 11, 2001, some 10,000 more police posts have been filled in Germany, but it is still not enough, he said. “We are not at all in the position to conduct around the clock surveillance on the so-called 'threats,' a group of some 60 to 100 people,” Freiburg told the paper. “We don’t have the personnel.”

But Germany, as the third largest contributor of troops to Afghanistan, is a major target, he said.

“The terrorism danger is there, but not ubiquitous,” he said. “As long as nothing happens, awareness of the problem is missing.”

The German Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, voted in October to extend Germany's participation in Afghanistan and increase the number of soldiers deployed there to 4,500. Most of the troops are stationed in northern Afghanistan, and have become the target of an increasing number of insurgent attacks as part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission there.

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