German Chancellor Angela Merkel met representatives of migrant groups to reassure them that her government has promised to tackle far-right extremist attacks.
Monday’s talks come after the country has seen several attacks by far-right extremists in recent months. Last month, a 43-year-old German national shot and killed 9 people with immigrant backgrounds in a Frankfurt suburb overnight.
Merkel said that fighting racism in Germany is her government’s “deepest concern”, and stressed that the government had already launched measures following last year’s shooting at a synagogue in Halle.
Interior minister Horst Seehofer, who attended the meeting, announced the creation of an independent expert group on Islamophobia at the weekend. He has previously been criticized for declaring that “Islam does not belong to Germany”.
Last week, a network of 60 migrant-related organisations published an open letter to Merkel accusing her Christian Democrats party (CDU) and its allies, the CSU and the SPD, of tailoring their migration policies to win back voters who support the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
Merkel talks to migrant groups after racist attacks
EPA-EFE/OMER MESSINGER
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers her opening statement during the 11th Integration Summit held at the federal chancellery in Berlin, Germany, 02 March 2020. Chancellor Merkel is receiving immigrants and some 60 representatives of migrant organizations for a summit tackling integration challenges and related issues such as racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia following the recent deadly shooting in Hanau, which appears to have had a xenophobic motive.
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