German protesters prepare for Angela 'Merkel Must Go' demonstration
More than 5,000 protested in Berlin and thousands more throughout Germany over the 'open-door' policy that many have blamed for four brutal terrorist attacks that left 13 dead over the last month.
The Chancellor faced a fresh wave of fury after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as refugees.
Germany: Thousands attend 'Merkel Must Go' demo in Berlin
The Chancellor (pictured after the Munich shootings) faced a
fresh wave of fury after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a
third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as
refugeesBut now her key ally in Bavaria - which bore the brunt of the attacks - has launched a fresh attack on her leadership, distancing his party from Merkel and straining the coalition that keeps her in power.
Horst Seehofer, the conservative premier of Bavaria, said he did not share Merkel's 'we can do it' credo on accommodating the almost 1.1 million migrants and refugees who arrived in 2015.
Seehofer, who leads the Christian Social Union, the sister party to Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, said today '"We can do this" - I cannot, with the best will, adopt this phrase as my own.'
Stressing he had no wish to start a quarrel with Merkel's party, Seehofer said it was important to look 'reality' in the face.
An axe rampage, a shooting spree, a knife attack and a suicide bombing in the span of a week stunned Germany, leaving 13 people dead, including three assailants, and dozens wounded.
Three of the four attackers were asylum seekers, and two of the assaults were claimed by the Islamic State group.
'Merkel must go' has been trending on social media, with people posting powerful pictures including one claiming that she has blood on her hands after recent attacks.
The picture shows her splattered with blood, while another depicts her wearing a Burka.
A new survey found that 83 per cent of Germans see immigration as their nation's biggest challenge - twice as many as a year ago.
Recent attacks have fuelled the right-wing movement, which has long called for stricter immigration controls, particularly in Bavaria, where she faces heavy criticism from high-profile politicians.
Today, thousands of protesters calling for her to step down also met counter-protests from the anti-right-wing movement, in Germany - which is still in a state of high alert.
Merkel: Attacks by refugees 'mock country that took them in'
'Despite the great unease these events inspire, fear can't be the guide for political decisions,' she said.
'It is my deep conviction that we cannot let our way of life be destroyed,' she added.
After the Bavaria attacks, Seehofer initially called into question the principle that asylum seekers should never be sent back to war zones. He later backtracked, citing international law.
However, he insisted previously: 'We must seriously consider how such people should be treated if they violate the law or can be considered a danger.'
'That's why, here in Germany, we still have some way to go to improve in all areas,' he said.
Jens Spahn, deputy finance minister and a senior member of Merkel's conservatives, said that integrating the refugees was a Herculean task but the government needed to put more pressure on those new arrivals unwilling to make an effort to fit in.
'A ban on the full body veil - that is the niqab and the burka - is overdue,' he told daily Die Welt. 'My impression is that we all underestimated a year ago what would come upon us with this big refugee and migration movement.'
The deadliest was carried out by a German-born teenager who opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself.
FOUR DEADLY ATTACKS IN A WEEK
The
deadliest attack came last Friday when a German-Iranian teenager who
was born and raised in Munich opened fire at a downtown shopping mall,
killing nine people before turning the gun on himself.
He had been under psychiatric treatment and investigators say he was obsessed with mass shootings, including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre.
They have ruled out an Islamist motive, saying the assailant had far-right 'sympathies'.
On July 18, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan slashed train passengers and a passer-by with an axe and a knife in Wuerzburg before being shot by police.
And on Sunday, a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15 people at a nearby cafe after being turned away from the packed open-air venue. IS claimed both attacks.
Already steeped in grief and shock, Germans were further rattled by news that a Syrian refugee had killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen Sunday in what authorities called a personal dispute.
He had been under psychiatric treatment and investigators say he was obsessed with mass shootings, including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre.
They have ruled out an Islamist motive, saying the assailant had far-right 'sympathies'.
On July 18, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan slashed train passengers and a passer-by with an axe and a knife in Wuerzburg before being shot by police.
And on Sunday, a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15 people at a nearby cafe after being turned away from the packed open-air venue. IS claimed both attacks.
Already steeped in grief and shock, Germans were further rattled by news that a Syrian refugee had killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen Sunday in what authorities called a personal dispute.
But IS has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Bavaria - a failed Syrian asylum seeker who blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15, and an Afghan asylum seeker who slashed five train passengers with an axe and a knife before being shot by police.
A Syrian refugee killed a Polish woman with a knife in Reutlingen, although authorities blamed the attack on a personal dispute.
She announced new security measures including an 'early warning system' to detect radicalisation among refugees, better training for the military to respond to attacks and quicker deportation of failed asylum seekers.
Mohammed Daleel, the Ansbach suicide bomber, was able to stay in Germany despite his asylum application being rejected and twice being ordered to be deported.
Mrs Merkel said the EU's deal with Turkey would mean the number of migrants arriving in Germany would be greatly reduced.
But she repeated her conviction that the country had a duty to help people fleeing war and persecution, adding: 'I am still convinced that we can do it – it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge.'
The state government in Bavaria has called for an upper limit on numbers of new asylum seekers, and tougher controls on those already in Germany.
Its interior minister Joachim Herrman said: 'Islamist terrorism has unfortunately arrived in Bavaria. We are awaiting urgent action from the federal government and Europe – now is the time to act.'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3715877/Thousands-German-protesters-prepare-streets-Merkel-demonstration-against-Premier-s-immigration-policies-say-caused-terror-attacks.html