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| Summer of fear: the anxious mood in Germany and France | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| “When the gunman struck in Munich, I thought to myself: well, at least we don’t live in a big city, we’re safe here,” said Hanno, an engineering student in Ansbach. But two days after a German-Iranian teenager killed nine people in a shooting spree in the Bavarian capital, horror struck Hanno’s town of 40,000 when a 27-year-old Syrian refugee blew himself up in front of a music festival on Sunday night. | “When the gunman struck in Munich, I thought to myself: well, at least we don’t live in a big city, we’re safe here,” said Hanno, an engineering student in Ansbach. But two days after a German-Iranian teenager killed nine people in a shooting spree in the Bavarian capital, horror struck Hanno’s town of 40,000 when a 27-year-old Syrian refugee blew himself up in front of a music festival on Sunday night. |
| Hanno, 23, who declined to give his surname, was with a group of friends listening to a performance by the singer Gregor Meyle at the time. “It was a really lovely warm summer’s evening, the atmosphere was great. Then suddenly there was a big bang.” Fifteen people were injured in the blast. | Hanno, 23, who declined to give his surname, was with a group of friends listening to a performance by the singer Gregor Meyle at the time. “It was a really lovely warm summer’s evening, the atmosphere was great. Then suddenly there was a big bang.” Fifteen people were injured in the blast. |
| Related: 'Social peace is at stake': readers react to the recent German attacks | Related: 'Social peace is at stake': readers react to the recent German attacks |
| “I will certainly be wary of people with rucksacks for some time to come,” Hanno said. “And I’m a bit scared, I’m ashamed to say, as to what my reaction might be if someone approaches me who does not look obviously German.” | “I will certainly be wary of people with rucksacks for some time to come,” Hanno said. “And I’m a bit scared, I’m ashamed to say, as to what my reaction might be if someone approaches me who does not look obviously German.” |
| Fear has gripped Germany over 10 days bookended by attacks motivated by Islamic extremism – an axe attack on a train in Würzburg and the suicide bombing in Ansbach. In between was the Munich shooting by a Hitler-loving rightwing extremist and a fatal machete attack on a 45-year-old pregnant Polish woman by a 21-year-old Syrian in an apparent domestic dispute. | Fear has gripped Germany over 10 days bookended by attacks motivated by Islamic extremism – an axe attack on a train in Würzburg and the suicide bombing in Ansbach. In between was the Munich shooting by a Hitler-loving rightwing extremist and a fatal machete attack on a 45-year-old pregnant Polish woman by a 21-year-old Syrian in an apparent domestic dispute. |
| Meanwhile, in France, which has been far more battered and for far longer by terrorist attacks than neighbouring Germany, the feeling among many is that they are in the midst of a summer unlike any other. | Meanwhile, in France, which has been far more battered and for far longer by terrorist attacks than neighbouring Germany, the feeling among many is that they are in the midst of a summer unlike any other. |
| Heavily armed police stroll the golden beaches of the French Riviera where, in Cannes, holidaymakers have been banned from carrying large bags. Children are petrified rather than enchanted by firework displays and young concert and festivalgoers have one eye on the main act and one on the emergency exit. | Heavily armed police stroll the golden beaches of the French Riviera where, in Cannes, holidaymakers have been banned from carrying large bags. Children are petrified rather than enchanted by firework displays and young concert and festivalgoers have one eye on the main act and one on the emergency exit. |
| A debate about security in Europe has led to organisers of all events – from upcoming Wacken, the world’s largest heavy metal music festival, to several German dates on Rhianna’s world tour – to check the bags of every single visitor and in some cases to ban rucksacks altogether. | A debate about security in Europe has led to organisers of all events – from upcoming Wacken, the world’s largest heavy metal music festival, to several German dates on Rhianna’s world tour – to check the bags of every single visitor and in some cases to ban rucksacks altogether. |
| “People are reacting in various ways to the attacks,” said Borwin Bandelow, a psychiatrist and expert in anxiety, from Göttingen University. | “People are reacting in various ways to the attacks,” said Borwin Bandelow, a psychiatrist and expert in anxiety, from Göttingen University. |
| “Some say it’s all the more reason to go to large events to show ‘I will not be intimidated’, others say ‘I’m not going to go out for the next few weeks because the fun has gone out of it’.” | “Some say it’s all the more reason to go to large events to show ‘I will not be intimidated’, others say ‘I’m not going to go out for the next few weeks because the fun has gone out of it’.” |
| Kindergarten teacher Annette Meister, 47, from Berlin, said: “I’m scared for the kids in my kindergarten – as we’ve seen these terrorists stop at nothing – and I’m scared for my 17-year-old daughter. When she went off to the Christopher Street Day gay pride festival in Berlin last weekend, I thought should I be letting her go? I know it’s irrational but I can’t help myself.” | Kindergarten teacher Annette Meister, 47, from Berlin, said: “I’m scared for the kids in my kindergarten – as we’ve seen these terrorists stop at nothing – and I’m scared for my 17-year-old daughter. When she went off to the Christopher Street Day gay pride festival in Berlin last weekend, I thought should I be letting her go? I know it’s irrational but I can’t help myself.” |
| Picking up on the fear in Germany on state radio on Friday morning was Thomas Dörken-Kucharz, the broadcaster’s in-house protestant pastor. “Nowhere does one feel safe anymore. Getting on the underground or train triggers an uneasy feeling. Even in a church you can’t feel safe,” he said, offering listeners a passage from St John’s gospel for comfort about the need to be courageous and stout-hearted. | Picking up on the fear in Germany on state radio on Friday morning was Thomas Dörken-Kucharz, the broadcaster’s in-house protestant pastor. “Nowhere does one feel safe anymore. Getting on the underground or train triggers an uneasy feeling. Even in a church you can’t feel safe,” he said, offering listeners a passage from St John’s gospel for comfort about the need to be courageous and stout-hearted. |
| Since the series of bombings and shootings in November in Paris, Parisians have become used to seeing rifle-toting soldiers outside schools, on the boulevards in the railway stations, but it is still unsettling. If a scooter backfires, everyone flinches. Their first thought is “terrorist attack”. | Since the series of bombings and shootings in November in Paris, Parisians have become used to seeing rifle-toting soldiers outside schools, on the boulevards in the railway stations, but it is still unsettling. If a scooter backfires, everyone flinches. Their first thought is “terrorist attack”. |
| “Everyone knows that this is what the terrorists want; everyone knows life should go on as normal as possible, but when a priest is assassinated in his own church in a place nobody has heard of, it seems anything can happen,” a French mother-of-two who was at Paris Plage, the annual city beach event, this week said. Like others, she did not want to be named: “Silly, but scary times,” she added. | “Everyone knows that this is what the terrorists want; everyone knows life should go on as normal as possible, but when a priest is assassinated in his own church in a place nobody has heard of, it seems anything can happen,” a French mother-of-two who was at Paris Plage, the annual city beach event, this week said. Like others, she did not want to be named: “Silly, but scary times,” she added. |
| Franck, 45, a carpenter, said: “We’ve never watched much television, but we used to have the radio on most of the day at home. Now we’ve turned it off. It’s not good for the children, or even us, to hear this continual stream of violence and terrible news. As adults we can try to rationalise the risk, but for children it becomes a huge all-pervading fear. It’s too much. ” | Franck, 45, a carpenter, said: “We’ve never watched much television, but we used to have the radio on most of the day at home. Now we’ve turned it off. It’s not good for the children, or even us, to hear this continual stream of violence and terrible news. As adults we can try to rationalise the risk, but for children it becomes a huge all-pervading fear. It’s too much. ” |
| On the Voie Pompidou, the stretch of the Seine’s right bank highway where the beach has been created, police vans sit at each entrance alongside huge flower containers planted to prevent anyone driving a vehicle through crowds as happened in Nice. Police in blue uniforms and soldiers in khaki stroll the city beach, which closes early each night “for security reasons” to the distress of the pop-up restaurants and bars which say they have lost nearly a third of their trade. | On the Voie Pompidou, the stretch of the Seine’s right bank highway where the beach has been created, police vans sit at each entrance alongside huge flower containers planted to prevent anyone driving a vehicle through crowds as happened in Nice. Police in blue uniforms and soldiers in khaki stroll the city beach, which closes early each night “for security reasons” to the distress of the pop-up restaurants and bars which say they have lost nearly a third of their trade. |
| Outside the Hotel de Ville, where nightly concerts are held during Paris Plage, high metal grills have been erected around the city hall courtyard. Benoit Brayer, director of the FNAC Live festival, warned that everyone entering would be searched and “anything problematic removed”. “It’s exactly the same method used for the (Euro2016) fanzones,” he explained. | Outside the Hotel de Ville, where nightly concerts are held during Paris Plage, high metal grills have been erected around the city hall courtyard. Benoit Brayer, director of the FNAC Live festival, warned that everyone entering would be searched and “anything problematic removed”. “It’s exactly the same method used for the (Euro2016) fanzones,” he explained. |
| Alex, 20, a law student, shrugged at the security: “It’s normal. Well, it’s normal now,” he said. | Alex, 20, a law student, shrugged at the security: “It’s normal. Well, it’s normal now,” he said. |
| In Bayonne, whose celebrated five-day annual festival attracting more than one million visitors opens on Wednesday, Basque-born Agnès Onaindia, 38, said she would not be going this year for the first time. | In Bayonne, whose celebrated five-day annual festival attracting more than one million visitors opens on Wednesday, Basque-born Agnès Onaindia, 38, said she would not be going this year for the first time. |
| “These five days are something special and celebrate our (Basque) art de vive and local tradition, so in some ways not going is letting those who want to terrorise us win. For me, it’s more out of fear of a stampede of the crowd in this fearful atmosphere than out of fear of attack,” she told France 24. | “These five days are something special and celebrate our (Basque) art de vive and local tradition, so in some ways not going is letting those who want to terrorise us win. For me, it’s more out of fear of a stampede of the crowd in this fearful atmosphere than out of fear of attack,” she told France 24. |
| The other side of the country, masses have been cancelled at Strasbourg Cathedral and from next week opening times to tourists have been restricted. | The other side of the country, masses have been cancelled at Strasbourg Cathedral and from next week opening times to tourists have been restricted. |
| Under intense criticism and questions over security in Nice, the French government has announced an increased police and military presence across the country but there’s still a sense of fatalism. | Under intense criticism and questions over security in Nice, the French government has announced an increased police and military presence across the country but there’s still a sense of fatalism. |
| Alexis Poulin, 41, a PR and communications consultant with two children, said the Nice attack had “changed the prism through which I see public spaces and people”. | Alexis Poulin, 41, a PR and communications consultant with two children, said the Nice attack had “changed the prism through which I see public spaces and people”. |
| “I went to the Jardin des Tuileries and it was full of tourists, and for the first time I thought ‘someone could come in here and carry out an attack’. I go there every week and it was the first time I’d thought that. | “I went to the Jardin des Tuileries and it was full of tourists, and for the first time I thought ‘someone could come in here and carry out an attack’. I go there every week and it was the first time I’d thought that. |
| Related: The Guardian view on terror in Europe: the search for a political answer | Editorial | Related: The Guardian view on terror in Europe: the search for a political answer | Editorial |
| “I haven’t changed my behaviour but whenever I go anywhere I look at whether it would be a good spot for an attack. I still go, but that’s what’s in my mind. | “I haven’t changed my behaviour but whenever I go anywhere I look at whether it would be a good spot for an attack. I still go, but that’s what’s in my mind. |
| “Every public space has become a possible space for an attack. Attitudes changed after Nice. Normandy was shocking but it was more political, religious … the attack on Bastille Day made people’s fears a reality. | “Every public space has become a possible space for an attack. Attitudes changed after Nice. Normandy was shocking but it was more political, religious … the attack on Bastille Day made people’s fears a reality. |
| “Whatever the public messages that we won’t be influenced by their (terrorists) behaviour, it’s clear we are. And the fact is they can strike anywhere and with any weapon; even a motorbike becomes a weapon in a public place.” | “Whatever the public messages that we won’t be influenced by their (terrorists) behaviour, it’s clear we are. And the fact is they can strike anywhere and with any weapon; even a motorbike becomes a weapon in a public place.” |
| According to Bandelow, the anxiety expert, “our brains have two centres. The one says the statistical probability of being the victim of a terror attack is extremely remote. Others say: I’m nevertheless scared if there’s a man with a dark beard sitting in a bus or a tram. This angst system is not influenced by statistical probability.” | According to Bandelow, the anxiety expert, “our brains have two centres. The one says the statistical probability of being the victim of a terror attack is extremely remote. Others say: I’m nevertheless scared if there’s a man with a dark beard sitting in a bus or a tram. This angst system is not influenced by statistical probability.” |