German president commemorates 2004 neo-Nazi attack in Cologne

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on all democrats and anti-racists to stand together on the 20th anniversary of a neo-Nazi attack by the National Socialist Underground (NSU) group in the western city of Cologne.

"It is important that we outlaw violence in the political battle of opinions - regardless of the motives behind it: whether left-wing or right-wing extremist or religious fanaticism - violence destroys democracy, and we don't want that," Steinmeier said on Sunday.

During a visit to the site of the attack, Steinmeier spoke with the two hairdressers Hasan and Özcan Yildirim, in front of whose salon a bicycle with a nail bomb was left on June 9, 2004.

The bomb injured 22 people, some of them seriously.

The police investigated the Turkish community for years afterwards. It was not until seven years after the attack that it became clear that the NSU right-wing extremists Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt were responsible.

The NSU neo-Nazi terrorist cell carried out a string of murders in Germany over several years in the 2000s. Their victims were nine tradesmen of Turkish and Greek origin and a German policewoman.

In addition to Mundlos and Böhnhardt, who killed themselves in 2011, the perpetrators also included Beate Zschäpe, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Munich Higher Regional Court in 2018.