FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 file photo, from left, board members Georg Pazderski and Beatrix von Storch and federal Parliament faction co-leader Alexander Gauland look on prior to a party convention of the Alternative for Germany, AfD, party in Hannover, Germany. Germany’s interior minister is calling for the “mood of hate” on social media to end after Twitter users falsely blamed a fatal van attack in Muenster on Islamic extremists. After the attack on Saturday, April 7, 2018, deputy leader of the Alternative for Germany party Beatrix von Storch tweeted that the suspect was an “imitator of Islamist terror.” (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)
Republished April 09, 2018 - 2:51 PM
Original Publication Date April 09, 2018 - 8:26 AM
BERLIN - Germany's interior minister is calling for the "mood of hate" on social media to end after Twitter users falsely blamed a fatal van attack in Muenster on Islamic extremists.
Horst Seehofer said Monday: "Society cannot accept that some abused this terrible event for their own perfidious purposes."
Seehofter didn't mention anyone by name. After a man drove into a crowd on Saturday, the deputy leader of the Alternative for Germany party suggested in a tweet that Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy was to blame.
When authorities revealed the van's driver to be a German with no known extremist links, Beatrix von Storch tweeted that the suspect was an "imitator of Islamist terror."
Merkel's party said AfD's leadership should consider how long members like von Storch will be tolerated.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018