German spy agency chief out after assault remarks
BERLIN — The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency lost his job Tuesday after his remarks downplaying anti-migrant violence became a battleground between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservative critics.
The ouster of Hans-georg Maassen is the latest political aftershock resulting from the influx of more than a million refugees into Germany since 2015.
Maassen’s decision to openly contradict Merkel in an interview with the mass-circulation daily Bild this month appears to have sealed his fate.
Responding to violent right-wing protests following the killing of a German man, allegedly by migrants, in the eastern city of Chemnitz, Maassen said his agency had no reliable evidence that foreigners were “hunted” down in the streets — a term Merkel had used.
He added that “according to my cautious evaluation, there are good reasons for thinking that it is deliberate misinformation, possibly in order to distract the public from the murder in Chemnitz.”
Maassen provided no evidence to back up his assertion.
Merkel’s coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats, accused Maassen of downplaying apparent anti-migrant violence.
In a short statement Tuesday, the government said Maassen will be moved to a new job within the Interior Ministry.