Germany's Merkel urges crackdown on far-right extremists

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German government is "very, very serious" about fighting far-right extremism that presents "a big challenge for all of us" after a man with anti-migrant views allegedly killed a regional official from Merkel's party.

Far-right extremists "need to be fought from the beginning without any taboo," Merkel said Saturday at a gathering of Lutheran Protestants in the western city of Dortmund.

The Germany leader called the slaying of Kassel administrator Walter Luebcke, 65, who was found shot in the head at his home on June 2, "not only a gruesome act, but a big challenge for all of us to check on all levels (of society) for far-right tendencies."
"This murder motivated me to do everything to up the security," Seehofer told Germany's Funke newspaper group Saturday. "It's our obligation to do everything to protect those who are being threatened."