Carefully shielding a lit candle against the cold pouring rain, Syrian refugee Ghaled, 22, had come to the French embassy in Berlin to pay tribute to victims of the Paris attacks.
“We are with them right now, just to help them with this crisis. What’s happening to them is happening every day in Syria, 100 times per day for five years, so we know what that means,” he told AFP.
Ghaled was a student in dentistry in Damascus, but decided to leave the Syrian capital after seeing no end to the violence engulfing his homeland.
Like tens of thousands of his fellow countrymen, he first risked his life crossing the Mediterranean in an inflatable boat, before trekking for 17 days to get to Germany five months ago.
But just as he began looking forward to rebuilding his life with German language classes which he hopes would help him return to dentistry school one day, Friday’s attacks that killed 129 people in Paris have raised fears of a backlash in Europe.
French police’s discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one attacker in particular has sparked concerns that some of the assailants might have entered Europe as part of the huge influx of people fleeing Syria’s civil war.
“It’s a problem,” said Ghaled, who urged against victimising his countrymen, saying the attackers “are not Syrians” and that the passport link was simply make-believe.
“I think it’s a big lie because all the area is destroyed, and just the passport is still ok? That’s silly, really silly,” he said, suggesting that the passport was either fake or had been planted “because they hate refugees… so many people hate Syrians”.
Another Syrian refugee, William, 24, who had also arrived in Germany five months ago, was equally anxious.
“Many news speak about Syrians, police find Syrian passport. Of course I’m worried. It’s not good,” said the 24-year-old tourism student from the northern town of Hama.
“Syrians are not terrorists. We need life and peace for work,” he said, adding that he wanted to return home once the war is over.
Mouhanad Dawood, who had reached the EU through Italy before eventually seeking asylum in Germany 11 months ago, said his host country has been “very welcoming”.
“People here understand not everyone are terrorists, a lot of people are running from terrorists, especially from IS,” said the trained architect.
But he conceded that he was “a little bit” afraid that attitudes could change. “I have my family here now, I want to start my life here.”
To those who have doubts about Syrians after the French attacks, Dawood said: “A terrorist is a terrorist. It doesn’t matter where they come from.”
In Germany, where a debate had already been raging before Paris attacks over the influx of asylum seekers expected to top a million this year, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere came out quickly to counter any attempt at drawing a link between terrorists and migrants.
“I would like to make this urgent plea to avoid drawing such swift links to the situation surrounding refugees,” de Maiziere said on Saturday following a crisis cabinet meeting.
He said authorities would watch far-right extremists closely, noting there have already been in recent months “appalling scales of attacks against asylum seekers and asylum seeker shelters”.
On Sunday, the interior minister confirmed that security would be stepped up at asylum seeker shelters.
