"If someone is so hated, just because he had liberal views, that is the decline of human morality," Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, told the newspaper Tagesspiegel.
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Police are investigating the murder last weekend of the prominent local politician, Walter LĂĽbcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrat (CDU) party.
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The 65-year-old was shot in the head at close range on the terrace of his home in Kassel, around 160 kilometres northeast of Frankfurt, just after Saturday midnight.
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Investigators say it is unclear why LĂĽbcke was killed, but a possible political motive has not been ruled out, given the politician had previously received numerous death threats.
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Walter LĂĽbcke. Photo: DPA
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Tributes to Lübcke and articles reporting his death sparked an avalanche of comments on social networks, many welcoming the murder – something that President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has slammed.
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"It is simply repugnant to see how some people in the social networks are making fun of this man's death – welcoming it and applauding it," Steinmeier said at an event in Dortmund.
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"Slander and attacks, hate campaigns and physical violence against officials and mayors can not be justified."
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LĂĽbcke, the head of regional government in Kassel, had spoken out in defence of migrants at the height of Europe's refugee crisis in 2015, drawing the fury of the far right.
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On a visit to a refugee shelter in October 2015 he said helping people in need is a basic Christian value.
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"Whoever does not represent these values can leave this country at any time if he does not agree. That is the freedom of every German," he said back then.
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