Schmidt recalled that, after the Strasbourg tragedy, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer recommended that visitors of Christmas markets in Germany wear body armors to protect themselves in case of a similar shooting attack. He noted that concrete security barriers around the markets were useless against terrorists with firearms.
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"The German authorities, — who have opened borders to terrorists and criminals from all over the world instead of protecting the population from them, — often give ridiculous pieces of advice on how German people should take care of themselves, thereby effectively admitting their helplessness in the face of the problem they have created," Schmidt said.
The comments come after Tuesday's shooting attack near the Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg, which left four people killed. The gunman was identified as Cherif Chekatt, 29, a Strasbourg-born man of Algerian descent who was known to the law enforcement for previous multiple offenses. The man was supposed to have been radicalized while serving prison terms in France and Germany. Chekatt, who had fled the crime scene, was later killed in a shootout with the police.
