Refugee home fire not my fault, says German anti-immig pol

BERLIN — The leader of a rising German nationalist party on Monday rejected accusations that her rhetoric has helped stoke anti-migrant hatred, a day after a fire at a former hotel being turned into a refugee home.

Frauke Petry also said her party offers a “very necessary” option for disgruntled conservatives ahead of regional elections next month. Her Alternative for Germany Party is expected to enter three state parliaments in elections March 13 — benefiting from concerns over the influx of more than a million mi-igrants into Germany over r the past year and Chancel- llor Angela Merkel’s strug- ggles to secure a European n solution to the problem.

Petry’s party advocatess much tougher controls on n asylum-seekers, and last month, she suggested police could shoot refugees trying to enter Germany.

Alexander Ahrens, the mayorma of Bautzen, where theth former hotel burned overov the weekend (photo) as onlookers celebrated, accusedac Petry on Monday of “spiritual arson.”