I was at home in Berlin yesterday evening. My son hadn't been feeling well all day and I'd just finished putting him to bed. I finally sat down to check my emails: one from Amnesty International about the evacuation of East Aleppo caught my attention. So I turned on Twitter to send a tweet about Aleppo and I happened to notice a tweet about a truck seen driving into a Christmas market by the Gedächtniskirche, the memorial church in the centre of West Berlin.
My first reaction was: "It must have been an accident". I couldn't believe in an attack, but as more news emerged and the WhatsApp messages from anxious friends and family arrived, the reality started to sink in.
After the recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, Nice, etc. an attack in Berlin wasn't totally unexpected. Nevertheless, it was shocking and I'm still struggling to believe it really happened.
Berlin is a welcoming and tolerant city. It's the city of artists, free thinkers, LGBTQ+, liberals... everyone is accepted in Berlin. I've never felt like a foreigner since I moved here. As far as I can tell, it's trying its best to be a welcoming city for refugees. I know so many people who help or have helped in refugee centres here.
So the day after this awful, cowardly, horrific act there is only one possible response: Berlin must remain a free, welcoming and tolerant city. It must remain a haven for artists, free thinkers, LGBTQ+, liberals, refugees. Those who have criticised Angela Merkel for welcoming refugees in Germany and who are blaming her for this vile attack should be ashamed of themselves.
Today we are all Berlin.
