By: Deutsche Welle
Source: MSN News
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her country will continue to accept migrants seeking refuge in Germany. In her New Year’s speech to the nation, the chancellor also criticized the anti-Islam movement PEGIDA.
In her address to the nation, released on the eve of the new year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would offer support to those who needed help.”It goes without saying that we help them and take in people who seek refuge with us,” the chancellor said.
Germany has received more than 200,000 applications from asylum seekers this year, making it the country accepting the largest number of refugees in the world.Nearly one fifth of those refugees were from conflict-ridden Syria, where rebels have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since 2011.
The number of refugees in the world this year hasn’t been so high since World War II, Merkel added, saying that children of persecuted parents could grow up in Germany under peaceful circumstances- something the country could be proud of.’Their hearts are cold, full of prejudice, hate ‘Merkel also called upon citizens to be wary of the initiators of the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement which has staged several protest rallies across Germany over the last couple months. “Do not follow people who organize these, for their hearts are cold and often full of prejudice, and even hate.”The German chancellor also emphasized that the crisis in Ukraine would not divide Europe. Europe, she said, “could not and would not” accept the “purported law of the mightier” party, which ignored international laws. Merkel stressed that Germany wanted “security in Europe together with Russia, not against Russia.