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BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel assured parliament on Wednesday that she takes seriously the concerns of Germans about crimes committed by migrants and promised a strong response, but condemned recent protests as "hateful". violence in response.
The comments come after the assassination of a German for whom an Iraqi and a Syrian were arrested, which triggered anti-migrant protests in the city of Chemnitz, in the east of the country. Germany, which has sometimes become violent.
Neo-Nazis were sighted after the Hitler massacre, the day after the assassination, which attracted some 6,000 people. On the sidelines of the demonstration, masked men threw stones and bottles at a kosher restaurant. , get out of Germany.
The day before, during spontaneous demonstrations by hundreds immediately after the murder, several foreigners were attacked and wounded in the streets.
Merkel assured lawmakers that her government was also aware of its responsibility to take the broader public concerns seriously and was working hard on the issue.
"We are particularly concerned about the serious crimes in which the alleged perpetrators were asylum seekers," she said. "This shocks us … (and) such crimes must be investigated, the perpetrators must be brought to justice and punished for the severity of the law."
But she said the concerns were "not an excuse" for the demonstrations that followed the murder of Chemnitz.
Merkel described as semantic an argument that protesters "drove" foreigners into the streets – an allusion to the comments of his police chief spying last week questioning the characterization of his spokesman – and condemned them. manifestations. "
"There is no excuse or justification for hatred, the use of violence by some, Nazi symbols, hostility to different people, the owner of a Jewish restaurant, attacks on the police – heated debates about hate or hunting "t help," said Merkel to applaud.
German intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen clashed on Wednesday with two parliamentary committees to explain his widely criticized comments to the mainstream daily Bild, in which he questioned the authenticity of a video showing protesters chasing and attacking a stranger.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer also made an appearance at the Home Affairs Committee, saying he saw no "consequence" for Maassen, the German news agency reported, citing participants.
But Eva Hoegl, a leading legislator of the center-left junior party of Merkel's ruling Social Democrats coalition, said her party had "strong doubts".
Alexander Gauland, a leader of the far right Alternative for Germany, spoke in front of parliament in front of Ms Merkel. He defended the alternative for German members who marched alongside neo-Nazis in Chemnitz, noting that they exercised their "democratic right to freedom of assembly".
"There were some aggressive idiots among the protesters who shouted" aliens "and who hailed Hitler, no one disputes it," said Gauland. "It's unpleasant and criminal, but it was a minority that was neither representative of the protest as a whole, nor able to delegitimize the majority of protesters."
He accused parties of the "political current" of involving the neo-Nazis too much in their own goals.
"If it were not for these idiots and fools, if only ordinary citizens were demonstrating, it would be a disaster for you," said Gauland.
Social Democrat legislator Martin Schulz criticized Gauland's comments as a return to the Nazi era, saying "similar speeches have already been heard in this house".
"I think it's time the Democrats of this country defend themselves against this kind of rhetorical escalation, which will lead to the abandonment of inhibitions and lead to violence on the streets," Schulz said with a standing ovation.
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