Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that refugees had not brought terrorism to Germany, and that Islam belonged in the country as long as it was practised in a way that respected the constitution.
More than a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere arrived in Germany last year. The mood towards them has soured after a spate of attacks on civilians last month, including three carried out by migrants.
Two of the attacks were claimed by Islamic State.
“The phenomenon of Islamist terrorism, of Islamic State, is not a phenomenon that came to us with the refugees,” Merkel said at an election campaign event for her Christian Democrats in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ahead of a regional vote on 4 September. » | Reuters in Neustrelitz | Wednesday August 17, 2016
