German Politician Says Police “Should Shoot Migrants” Trying to Enter the Country Illegally
David Millward, Telegraph, January 31, 2016
A right-wing German politician has said that police should be ready to shoot migrants to prevent them entering the country illegally.
Frauke Petry, said desperate measures were needed to tackle the problem.
“I don’t want this either. But the use of armed force is there as a last resort,” said Ms Petry, head of the Eurosceptic Alternativ für Deutschland party.
Her remarks, which were published in the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper, drew widespread condemnation, the BBC reported.
The country’s police union said its members would never shoot at migrants.
Thomas Oppermann, a member of the centre-left social democrats, added that the last politician to order troops to fire at migrants was Erich Honecker, the leader of East Germany.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has faced mounting criticism over her “open door” refugee policy.
It is estimated that more than a million migrants entered Germany last year.
However a wave of sex attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve has led to a hardening of attitudes in Germany.
A violent backlash saw a gang of men attack members of the country’s Pakistani community and Syrian asylum seekers earlier this month.
The anti-immigration Pegida movement have held protest marches, with a demonstration in Cologne turning violent.
Mrs Merkel has toughened her policy. Only last week she announced that refugees would no longer be accepted from Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia–which would be deemed to be safe countries.
Earlier this month she said she would amend the law to make it easier to deport asylum seekers who committed crimes.
Germany is now also estimated to be turning away around 200 asylum seekers a day as they try to enter the country from Austria.
However this has failed to satisfy German public opinion with a new poll, published on Friday, showing at nearly 40 per cent of people should said she should resign.
