Mr Neumann, you are dealing with at their London Institute with radicalisation and terrorism. The last time it was in Europe was relatively quiet – were you surprised by the attack in Strasbourg?
no, to my surprise, I was not, the threat situation in Europe is still serious. Only the speed of terror has decreased. The last major attack was in 2017 in Barcelona, since then we only hear of smaller attacks. The often follow a certain pattern: There are single are often the perpetrators have no direct connection to the “Islamic state” and with very simple methods.
you Can assign the suspected assassins of Strasbourg as a specific type?
The Islamist terrorists with whom we have to do it today, often come from the criminal scene. You have radicalized, but are not interested in actually not that religious. Often you don’t even know exactly know about the content, but IS rather as a kind of speed – with the promise of on top of it, to come to Paradise.
The counter-proposal to the terrorists of 11. September?
the Hamburg cell was a completely different type. The students, some of whom are quite good prospects. The religious stood in the foreground, and they met every evening to discuss the theological questions. Something we see so often.
What is the security situation?
For the security agencies, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep the potential offenders, because they are often between the criminal and Islamist scene to switch back and forth. This was, for example, in the case of Amis Amri. And through contacts in the criminal underworld, the assassin is easy to get weapons. So it could be in Strasbourg may have been, too.
