A routine check by Viennese police found Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen his wife and two friends merrily chatting away past midnight on Sunday in breach of the current mandated closing time of 11 p.m., the country’s largest newspaper, the conservative Kronen Zeitung reports.

Van der Bellen is a member of the country’s Green Party.

“I went out to eat with two friends and my wife for the first time since the lockdown. We then chatted away and unfortunately overlooked the time. I am truly sorry. It was a mistake,” Van der Bellen wrote in a tweet, followed by a second one adding “should the host suffer any damage, I will stand for it straight.”

Under the current Austrian coronavirus regulations, any restaurant found open after the mandatory 11 p.m. closing time faces a fine of up to €30,000 ($32,663).

Aki Nuredini, owner of the Italian restaurant, told Kronen Zeitung that he did nothing wrong.

“The Federal President is a regular guest here, like many artists. He had fish for dinner. I did everything right, and we locked down with a last round of drinks on time at 11 p.m., as required by law,” Nuredini said. “The Federal President simply had afterwards — initially I was there too — chatting nicely with his wife outside on the covered sidewalk terrace.”

Michael Schnedlitz, secretary general of Austria’s senior coalition party, the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) said “This is a very inappropriate attitude for the federal president of a democratic country”.

rmx.news/article/article/austrian-president-breaks-coronavirus-regulations

The East Germany state of Thuringia has said its citizens can make their own choices with regards to the lockdown becoming the first place in Europe to end any formal rules. This does not follow Chancellor Angela Merkel’s advice of not moving too fast as the states compete to get their economies back going. Chancellor Merkel has made it clear the country is still “fragile” and “not out of the woods” with regards to COVID-19. Thuringia will lift its ban on mass gatherings, the compulsory wearing of facemarks in shops and a requirement for people to stay 1.5 metres apart.

The restrictions will be officially lifted on June 6.

Germany has been less affected by COVID-19 than many other European countries and began lifting its lockdown on April 20.

The rate of infection has been declining in the country, with only 431 new infections over the past 24 hours this weekend. Thuringia’s state leader Bodo Ramelow has said: “Our motto will be: recommendations instead of bans, and self-regulation instead of state compulsion.

“We made our decision in March based on estimates of 60,000 infections, we are now down to 245 [in Thuringia].

“This success shows that restrictions were correct, but it also means we have to now make realistic decisions – meaning lifting the lockdown.”

Sweden has also urged people to take on their own personal responsibility, but they have banned gatherings of over 50 people.

Chancellor Merkel has said that while the first phase of the virus is over, the country still has a long fight ahead of them.

She also said that if infection rates were to spread to more than 50 cases per 100,000 people in one area, a new lockdown would be enforced.

The Germany leader has made it clear she puts her faith in the people of the country to stick to the rules.

She said: “Our republic is built on trust and if we don’t have trust, we might as well call it quits.”

The chancellor has warned that COVID-19 presents the EU with its biggest challenge yet.

She has said: “Germany is only doing well if Europe is going well.

“Everyone is equally affected so it must be in everyone’s interest … that Europe should emerge strongly from this test.”

There are concerns if lockdowns are lifted too quickly, there could be a second wave of the coronavirus in Europe this autumn.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1286765/Angela-Merkel-Germany-lockdown-latest-Thuringia-ignore-coronavirus-advice

During an investigation, an unidentified person threw a flowerpot at an officer and missed her by only a few centimetres.

Yesterday morning, around 5 a.m., several police officers in Frankfurt am Main carried out checks to ensure that the corona measures were being observed. When the officers checked a group of people on the banks of the Main at the height of the Iron Bridge, a clay flower pot weighing around 20 kg hit the pavement just a few centimetres next to a 25-year-old policewoman.

The official had a lot of luck, not to have been hit by the flowerpot. Because it was thrown down from a height of six to seven metres. According to witnesses, a hitherto unknown perpetrator is said to have carried the flower pot first to the iron walkway and then deliberately thrown it at the police officers. The alleged perpetrator is described as being about 180 cm tall and of North African appearance. He was wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

wochenblick.at/frankfurt-versuchte-toetung-einer-polizistin-mit-blumenkuebel/

The anti-migration policies carried out by Matteo Salvini were legal, but the Italian justice still chose to attack them, according to a WhatsApp conversation between magistrates, disclosed in the press.

The former Italian Minister of the Interior, Salvini, had repeatedly accused Italian justice of failing in its duty of impartiality on the migration question. And his concerns have now been vindicated.

According to exchanges between Italian magistrates on WhatsApp messaging, made public on Thursday 21 May by the daily La Verità, the anti-migrant policies carried out by Matteo Salvini have been attacked in court even when the said magistrates knew they were legal.

Members of the League expressed their indignation, accusing the justices of militancy.

The leaked messages were said to have been issued in 2018, when Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who became a senator last September, announced his intention to close Italian ports to the ships of migrant transport NGOs in the Mediterranean. Progressives then accused the Minister of the Interior of “xenophobia”. However, the provisions laid down by Matteo Salvini were not illegal.

“I’m sorry to say that I don’t really see where Salvini is wrong. Illegitimate attempts are being made to enter Italy, and the Minister of the Interior is intervening to prevent this from happening,” wrote Paolo Auriemma, chief prosecutor of the city of Viterbo. “And I do not understand what the prosecutor of Agrigento has to do with this,” he added, with reference to the accusations of kidnapping and abuse of power brought against Matteo Salvini by the prosecution of the Sicilian city.

To which magistrate Luca Palamara replied: “You are right. But now we have to attack.” Italian justice therefore attacked Matteo Salvini even though it knew he was right. During the conversation, Paolo Auriemma questioned the usefulness of attacking the then Minister of the Interior, because “everyone thinks like him” and that his policy has met with great popular success.

The revelation caused a stir among League deputies, who petitioned President Sergio Mattarella to investigate the matter. “What was reported by the newspaper is very serious and intolerable: the independence of politics vis-à-vis the judiciary must be preserved,” they said.

As a reminder, Luca Palamara, was the subject of an investigation last year after accusations of corruption.

In a tweet, Salvini said the introduction of “short trials and the certainty of punishment” should top the reform of Justice as “the priority of the next government”.

freewestmedia.com/2020/05/25/scandal-erupts-after-disclosure-of-exchanges-between-magistrates-on-salvini/

The problem of Islamic terrorism is still present in Europe even if it has been overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. Here seven examples of Islamic terrorist attacks as well as planned attacks that have haunted the continent in the midst of what is arguably the worst crisis Europe has faced this century.

Terrorist attack in Bavaria

German police detained a German of Turkish origin who proclaimed his support for ISIS and carried out several attacks on buildings owned by Turks in the Bavarian city of Waldkraiburg. Police detained him only after stopping him for having an invalid ticket while riding the train. Authorities later found dozens of bombs and weapons at the detained man’s house.

According to the media, establishments, and buildings belonging to the Turks faced a series of attacks since April, with the suspect saying his “hatred of Turks” motivated his attacks.

According to the police, his arrest prevented much worse attacks.

Lebanese terrorist arrested in Poland

Poland, which has suffered virtually no high-profile terrorist attacks over the years, has recently faced an increase in the activities of radical Muslims.

At the end of April, Polish police arrested a Lebanese ISIS terrorist agent who police said was attempting to organize a network of supporters for terrorist attacks across Europe.

Four suspected terrorists arrested in Poland

On May, anti-terrorist forces detained four Muslims from Tajikistan. Polish authorities accuse them of trying to recruit terrorists among Muslims in Poland to carry out attacks. All four are now facing deportation.

Planned attack on US bases in Germany foiled

In April, German police also foiled what they said was a plan by four ISIS members to launch attacks on U.S. military bases. The group’s leader had also previously already been in jail in Germany for weapons charges.

Two police officers in France injured

In Paris, a suspected ISIS terrorist plowed his BMW into two French police officers, leaving both of them critically injured and one in a coma.

After his arrest, he told investigators, “I did it for ISIS.”

According to Le Parisien, the attacker is a pro-Palestinian activist, who had already been sentenced for community service for violent crimes in 2010.

Spain ISIS member arrested

At the start of May, police arrested an ISIS member they suspected was planning on carrying out attacks, according to a report from Voice of Europe.

The terrorist suspect wrote on social media about his hatred for the West and his “devotion to ISIS ideology.” Police were actively observing the migrant for a long period of time and observed him breaking coronavirus lockdown measures on a number of occasions with no justification. Police say that he looked to be looking for targets.

Islamic knife attack in France

A 33-year-old Sudanese refugee was arrested for terrorism-related offenses after killing two people in a knife attack in the southeastern French town of Romans-sur-Isere.

Although the man acted alone, authorities found handwritten documents that showed the man was motivated by Islamic extremist beliefs and anger over living in a “country of non-believers.”

Will the ISIS threat grow?

While Islamic terrorist attacks have plagued Europe for years, the threat of ISIS attacks could grow, according to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

The EU organization writes that “the suspension of global coalition operations across the Middle East has left a power gap that ISIS is looking to exploit. Being self-contained and living in remote hideouts, ISIS is already socially isolated and well-prepared for lockdowns. Since local troops are poorly equipped, and distracted by disaster relief and enforcing nationwide curfews, the international community may return to a regrouped and more active ISIS across much of the region.”

The EASO also warns that food shortages along with a deteriorating security situation that occur if COVID-19 spreads in poor countries could lead to an “increase in asylum-related migration in the medium term”.

rmx.news/article/article/this-is-what-isis-is-doing-in-europe-during-the-coronavirus-crisis

Ankara is again openly threatening to try and attempt to asymmetrically invade Greece with illegal immigrants, almost two months after their initial failure.

In an interview with DIM TV in Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu referred to the migrant issue and argued that after the end of the pandemic, there will be another wave of illegal immigration to Greece.

“There were refugees in the camps who went to the border with Greece. Due to the pandemic, this stopped. I am not saying this as a threat, but after the pandemic, the refugees will definitely want to leave and go there,” he said.

Çavuşoğlu said the refugee issue was a common issue with the EU, adding that the customs union agreement should be updated, the visa requirement for Turkish citizens released, and called for more co-operation in the fight against terrorism.

“We have sent the following message that on the occasion of the pandemic, if you say that we do not need Turkey, then you should know that the pandemic will end, but the refugee issue will continue for many years. Then please don’t knock on our door. Our goal is good cooperation and of course a cooperation that everyone will keep their promises.”

The representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry also took the baton.

“Turkey will not allow Greece to unilaterally redraw the borders with accomplished events, but bilateral technical talks,” a Turkish official said on Saturday.

“After Greece announced to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on April 15 that it was building a fence on their common land borders, the ministry responded on May 11 by asking Athens to give the exact location of the fence and convene a bilateral commission to ensure the border is not violated,” said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy.

“The issue can be resolved if the meetings we have proposed between the technical delegations of the two countries take place. An accomplished event on our borders will in no case be tolerated,” he added.

greekcitytimes.com/2020/05/24/turkey-announces-it-will-start-another-migrant-crisis-with-greece-after-coronavirus/

Germany’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that over 100 members of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group have returned to the country following the jihadi networks failed incursions in Iraq and Syria.

“Security authorities obtained knowledge that they actively engaged in combat in Syria and Iraq or have completed apprenticeships to this end,” the ministry told the DPA news agency. “These people remain under police and judicial investigation.”

The ministry added that the number of open investigations is in the “two-figure range.”

Authorities believe that 1,060 IS fighters left Germany for Syria or Iraq, of which a third have since returned, the Interior Ministry said.

German authorities are taking a “holistic approach” to the handling of the returnees, which besides criminal prosecution includes deradicalization and reintegration, according to the ministry.

Several suspected German IS members are believed to be in custody in Iraq, Syria or Turkey.

Turkish authorities have called on Germany and other European countries to take back IS suspects, with Turkish Interior Minister Soleyman Solyu saying in November that Turkey is not “a hotel for IS members.”

On Thursday, German authorities arrested two women, one of which was a suspected IS member, upon their arrival at Frankfurt Airport from Ankara after they were deported by Turkey.

According to the Genocide Network, a genocide investigation body backed by the European Union, many returning suspected IS fighters only face domestic terrorism charges in their home countries, which come with a statute of limitations that sets a time limit to prosecution.

The body has called for European authorities to add war crimes and genocide charges, the most serious crimes under international law which could lead to longer sentences.

dw.com/en/over-100-islamic-state-fighters-return-to-germany/a-53549985