German leaders admit failures a year after Christmas attack last year which killed 12 and injured 70

Germany’s leaders admitted on Tuesday that the government failed to provide adequate support and comfort to relatives of victims in last year’s devastating Christmas market attack, and acknowledged security gaps in the run-up to the atrocity.

A year after rejected Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri rammed a truck into the crowded market at the Breitscheidplatz, killing 12 people and wounding 70, the authorities have come under fire over security failings and their clumsy handling of the aftermath of the assault.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, accused of failing to reach out personally to families of victims, had met with them for the first time only on Monday.

“The talks were very open, and from the part of those affected, no holds barred, and pointed to the weakness of our country in this situation,” Merkel said, as Germany held a day of solemn commemoration for the victims on Tuesday.

“Today must be not only day of sadness, but also a day of our will to make better things that did not work well,” she vowed, adding that she had offered to meet the bereaved again in a few months’ time.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also told the bereaved and emergency workers at a private church memorial for the victims that “it is true that some support came late and remained unsatisfactory”.