BERLIN (DPA, CONVERSEER) – Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s doubling down on his comments linking migration to problems in German cities provoked a call for a spontaneous anti-racism protest in front of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) headquarters in Berlin on Tuesday.
On Monday Merz told a journalist that he has “nothing to take back” and added that “anyone who sees it in everyday life” knows that he is right. People who had daughters would know exactly what he meant, Merz said.
“We are around 40 million daughters in this country,” countered prominent climate activist Luisa Neubauer in a post on Instagram. “We have a sincere interest in our safety being attended to.”
“What we do not want at all is to be used as a pretext or justification for comments that are at bottom discriminatory, racist and thoroughly hurtful,” the 29-year-old head of Germany’s Climate for Future movement said.
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The Kiel branch of the organization called for a similar protest in front of the CDU office in the northern German city on Wednesday.
At the beginning of last week, Merz said that his government, which took office in May, would correct shortcomings in previous migration policy. “But we still have this problem in the cityscape, of course, and that’s why the federal interior minister is facilitating and carrying out large-scale deportations,” he said.
His remarks provoked furore in Germany but he refused to back down and was backed by party members.
Demo called on short notice
“We have no intention of being hitched to this wagon even for a second,” Neubauer said. “We call out happily: Not with us. Let’s meet at CDU headquarters,” she posted.
