BERLIN (Sputnik) — Speaking at an election campaign rally in German's Mecklenburg region, Merkel said the country needed "more police officers" as well as "more intelligence agents… at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Criminal Police Office."
10 August 2016, 12:43 GMT
Earlier, the German Interior Ministry proposed a set of new security measures to respond to recent terrorist attacks in Germany's Bavaria. These measures, in particular, include steps to make it easier to deport migrants deemed to be a threat to public security, stripping dual nationals who fought for terrorist organizations abroad of their German citizenship, banning the burka and loosening medical confidentiality.
According to Merkel, there is no connection between the rise of Islamic extremism in the country and a huge inflow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
The new security measures were proposed in the wake of the two lone-wolf attacks in Germany's Bavaria in July, both claimed by the Daesh jihadist group, which is banned in Germany and Russia as well as many other countries, and a machete attack carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker.
