Support for SPD hits a record low amid migrant crisis
Merkel condemns protest as ‘hate on the streets’
BERLIN — Combined support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative alliance and their partners, the left-leaning Social Democrats, has hit a record low for any such ‘grand coalition’ government, according to a survey published on Sunday.
The survey by pollster Emnid for the weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag had support for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and their Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union, down by one percentage point on the week to 29 percent.
The poll put support for the SPD down two points to 17 percent. In the last election, the SPD won 20.5 percent of the vote.
Germany’s two biggest and most established parties have had a torrid summer, blighted by infighting over immigration that is flaring up again after violent right-wing protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz followed the fatal stabbing of a German man, for which two migrants were arrested.
On Saturday, prosecutors leading the investigation into a far-right demonstration in Chemnitz said that there’s no evidence a video showing protesters chasing down and attacking a foreigner is fake, despite comments from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s domestic spy chief questioning its authenticity.
Dresden prosecutor WolfBut gang Klein told Die Zeit newspaper the video was part of the body of evidence his office was using in their investigation of the spontaneous Aug 26 protest, which drew hundreds angered by the killing that day of a German man.
“We have no indications that the video could be a fake,” Klein told the newspaper.
An Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested on charges of manslaughter in the stabbing, which authorities say occurred after a verbal altercation escalated.
Several migrants were hurt in the protests, and Merkel’s spokesman said foreigners had been targeted and “hunted” by the far-right. Merkel herself condemned the “hate on the streets”.
on Friday, the head of the country’s domestic spy agency, Hans-Georg Maassen, told Bild newspaper he was skeptical that protesters in Chemnitz had “hunted” foreigners down and questioned the authenticity of the video, suggesting it may have been shot elsewhere or at a different time.
Zeit newspaper reported it examined the clip, and video shot shortly before, on the cell phone on which it was filmed and confirmed it was from the Aug 26 protest.
Maasen will now have to explain how he came to his assessment and why he made it known in the media.”
Patrick Sensburg,
Motives questioned
Many have questioned Maasen’s motives for his remarks and on Saturday lawmaker Patrick Sensburg, Merkel’s party’s intelligence expert, said he would be brought before the parliamentary intelligence committee to explain.
“Maasen will now have to explain how he came to his assessment and why he made it known in the media,” Sensburg told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
The day after the killing, about 6,000 took to the streets in Chemnitz in a protest that brought together members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party and other Germans concerned about crimes committed by migrants and there were scattered clashes with a smaller group of counter demonstrators.