100,000 mourn German school shooting victims

Tens of thousands of mourners packed the main square of a German town today to commemorate the victims of one of the world’s worst school shootings.

The crowd huddling silently at the flower-covered steps of Erfurt’s ancient cathedral as the German president read out the names of the 16 victims.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined other leaders, pupils, teachers, police officers and many ordinary citizens for the solemn ceremony.

A week ago, 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuser gunned down 13 teachers, two students and a policeman at an Erfurt school that had expelled him.

‘‘Germany is in mourning, and the world is shocked,’’ said Thuringia state governor Bernhard Vogel, speaking in front of a 30ft high white cross and sprays of flowers at the foot of the gothic cathedral.

‘‘This deed has struck wounds that will never heal completely.’’

An orchestra played music from Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony and people on the square, squeezed under umbrellas in a light drizzle, observed a moment of silence at noon as church bells rang out across the state.

Police estimated the crowd at 100,000. A outdoor memorial service was held after the ceremony.

‘‘We must respect each other, and we must take care of each other,’’ President Johannes Rau told the mourners. ‘‘We must defend ourselves against the brutalisation of our society.’’

In an apparent reference to Steinhaeuser’s troubled school career, he said ‘‘no one must be pushed to the side’’ because of competitive pressures.

Today’s service began at 11:05 am - the time police received the first report of gunfire at the school.

Steinhaeuser’s parents and older brother yesterday asked the nation for forgiveness in an open letter published in newspapers, saying they could not explain his pent-up ‘‘hate and despair’’.

‘‘Until this brutal act of madness, we were an absolutely normal family and we knew a different Robert,’’ they said.

Steinhaeuser was a gun club member. A few weeks after being told to leave school last October, he received a weapons permit that allowed him to own the pistol and pump-action shotgun that used in the rampage.

Police said that even on the morning he set out to kill, his parents still believed he was attending school.

Authorities have said he apparently prepared the attack for months, stockpiling about 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Police said he fired about 40 rounds from a 9mm pistol at the school and had brought another 500 rounds into the building. About 500 more rounds were found stashed at his home.

One newspaper said today that Steinhaeuser did not use the shotgun because it had apparently jammed. Police refused to comment.

German politicians have said they want to raise the age for legally acquiring firearms from 18 to 21.