Germany: Facebook should take initiative to remove racist, violent content
Germany’s interior minister visits Facebook’s offices in Berlin and said it should be more proactive in removing forbidden content from its social network platform. The German government has been critical of Facebook in the past. Political leaders and regulators have complained the world’s largest social network, with 1.6 billion monthly users, had been slow to respond to hate speech and anti-immigrant messages. De Maizier:
Facebook should take down racist content or calls for violence from its pages on its own initiative even if it hasn’t yet received a complaint.
Refugee child dies in accident
A three-year-old refugee boy from the Iraq dies in an accident at a welcome party for refugees in Germany. The boy is swinging on a rope hung between two large flowerpots when one fell and crushes him. He is taken to hospital but later died of head injuries. The boy and his family arrived there four weeks ago after a journey of more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles).
Austria and Germany open borders
Germany opens borders to thousands of refugees from Hungary. About 4,300 people arrive in Germany, escaping Syria and Iraq. Austria says it received at least 6,500 refugees and migrants who flooded across the Hungarian border, where charity workers provided hospitality and much-needed bedding and food. Merkel:
The right to political asylum has no limits on the number of asylum seekers. As a strong, economically healthy country we have the strength to do what is necessary.
Ladies-only parking introduced
Frankfurt airport introduces women-only parking places. The ‘Ladies Parking’ spaces are closer to the airport, have CCTV coverage, are better lit, and have more exit points. Women’s groups have labelled this move sexist.
Program to combat ISIS
Germany is instituting a government-backed pilot program designed to teach school students about the dangers of radical groups like ISIS. Project leader:
We laughed when we saw those first rudimentary extremist videos in 2005. But a new politico-religious movement has grown up out of nothing and taken all of us completely by surprise.
Offered reduced sentence
Berisha is offered a reduction in sentence to three years if he provides information on ISIS. A charge sheet says he took part in ISIS combat missions in Syria but that he has turned his back on the group and is not a threat to Germany. His lawyer:
[Berisha] returned disappointed and traumatised. He saw and experienced terrible suffering there.
Germany bans support
Germany announces the ban of Islamic State support including the black flag and social media activity to further suppress the propaganda and recruitment of the extremist groups. The police now have the right of power to immediately respond without involving the cumbersome judicial system. Maiziere:
Germany is a true democracy, and there is no place here for a terror organization directed at the constitutional system and the belief in understanding among different peoples.