Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that terrorists wanted to reduce Germany's readiness to take in refugees but her government was against that, according to Reuters.
Merkel interrupted a vacation to hold a news conference in Berlin after a spate of recent attacks in the south of the country. She told reporters, "The terrorists want to make us lose sight of what is important to us, break down our cohesion and sense of community as well as inhibiting our way of life, our openness and our willingness take in people who are in need." She added, "They see hatred and fear between cultures and they see hatred and fear between religions. We stand decisively against that."