Anti-Refugee Comments Raise Ire Of German Officials, Police

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s
vice chancellor called Sunday for a nationalist party to be put under
observation by the government agency that tracks extremists after its
leader suggested that police should be allowed to shoot refugees trying
to enter the country.

Vice Chancellor
Sigmar Gabriel told Bild newspaper that “there is massive doubt that
(the Alternative for Germany party) stand by the free democratic order
of the republic.”

Frauke Petry, the head of the party also known
by its German initials AfD, told the Mannheimer Morgen daily on Saturday
that a border police officer “must stop illegal border crossings, and
also make use of his firearm if necessary.” Pushed by the newspaper for
more, she continued that “no policeman wants to fire on a refugee and I
don’t want that either. But the last resort includes the use of armed
force.”

Germany saw nearly 1.1 million asylum-seekers enter the
country last year and the AfD has been gaining in support as more people
question whether the government will be able to deal with the influx.

Joerg
Radek, vice-chairman of the GdP police union, slammed Petry’s
suggestion, saying no German police officer would shoot at a refugee.

“Whoever
proposes such a radical approach apparently wants to overturn the rule
of law and exploit the police,” he said in a statement.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, received support from an unlikely source for her handling of Germany’s refugee crisis.

Baden-Wuerttemberg
governor Winfried Kretschmann, a member of the Greens party that is in
opposition at the federal level, told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper
the chancellor’s insistence on “working step by step” on a European
solution to the refugee crisis was the correct path.

“Which of her
counterparts in the EU will hold Europe together if she fails?” he
asked. “Far and wide there’s nobody in sight. Therefore I pray every day
that the chancellor remains healthy.”

Europe has endured a huge
influx of migrants, most of whom undertake a dangerous journey in search
of a better life. On Saturday, at least 37 people drowned, including
children and babies, when their boat capsized during the short trip from
Turkey to Greece.

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