Leader of German anti-immigrant party calls on Merkel to resign

The leader of Germany’s anti-immigrant AfD party, riding a wave of public anger against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s asylum policy, on Saturday called on her to resign for throwing the country’s doors open to migrants.

 

“Merkel, step down. You can do it,” Frauke Petry told some 600 AfD supporters, mainly gray-haired men, putting a new twist on Merkel’s “Wir schaffen das” (We can do it) message to those who doubt Germany can deal with the influx of migrants expected to reach one million this year.

 

Petry, whose Alternative for Germany is enjoying an improbable revival after nearly imploding in a power struggle, said her party stood a real chance of entering three new state parliaments next year and the national parliament for the first time in 2017.

 

Petry drew at least four standing ovations with attacks on what she called Merkel’s undemocratic decision to open Germany’s borders to migrants who are expected to reach one million this year.

 

Merkel, who will attend a summit of European Union leaders and Turkey’s prime minister on Sunday on the issue, has resisted pressure from her own conservatives to cap the number of refugees.

 

Read More: Leader of German anti-immigrant party calls on Merkel to resign – Yahoo News