GERMANY: A senior politician in Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is being accused of stirring up anti-foreigner sentiment in a bid to secure victory in a looming regional election

Record ID: 345713

  • Title: GERMANY: A senior politician in Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is being accused of stirring up anti-foreigner sentiment in a bid to secure victory in a looming regional election
  • Date: 4th January 2008
  • Summary: (EU) WIESBADEN, GERMANY (JANUARY 2, 2008) (REUTERS) CAMPAIGN POSTER READING "LIVE IN SAFETY" ARRIVAL OF CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIV UNION CANDIDATE FOR HESSEN, ROLAND KOCH CAMERAMEN VARIOUS OF KOCH POSING NEXT TO POSTER DETAIL ON POSTER READING "LESS STREET CRIMINALS AND FEWER BURGLARIES" VARIOUS OF KOCH POSING WITH POSTER PHOTOGRAPHERS / KOCH
  • Embargoed: 19th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QD98RXA54812XQ4US5U2F39Q
  • Story Text: Conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) Roland Koch has focused his campaign for re-election as premier of the prosperous western state of Hessen on crime, in particular offences perpetrated by foreigners.
    He responded quickly to an assault on a German pensioner by two youths -- one Greek, one Turkish -- in a Munich train station by saying Germany had too many criminal foreign youths and urging an end to "multi-cultural" coddling of immigrants.
    The assailants shouted "Shit German" at the man before kicking him in the head. The brutal attack sparked calls for tougher sentencing, boot camps and even the deportation of criminals with foreign roots. It is one of two recent attacks by youths which have been caught on video surveillance cameras, police say the youths in the second attack were also most probably of foreign origin.
    On Wednesday, Koch unveiled a six-point programme to crack down on youth crime which included plans to change the law to make it easier to deport young criminals.

    "There are certain things that young people like to try out, whether they can cross the line without any danger or not. And if the state makes itself look ridiculous because it can't draw the line but just shrugs its shoulders, then you can't wonder why these criminal careers develope faster that we can control them," the CDU leader said.
    Social Democrat (SPD) Andrea Ypsilanti, Koch's opponent in the January 27 vote in Hessen, accused him of resorting to panic measures and waging a campaign based on fear.

    "We can talk about violent youths and juvenile deliquency, but we should also talk about Koch's tactics, his tactic is very transparent. His back is against the wall, he didn't have an election theme and he looked for one and think he has found one with this. But we are not going to play this game," she said.
    Germany is home to about 15 million people with an immigrant background -- about 18 percent of the population. 3.2 million are Muslims, the majority of whom are of Turkish origin.
    Most polls show Koch will lose his absolute majority but that he will be able to hold onto power by forming a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).
    Critics have accused Koch of using "anti-foreigner" tactics before. In 1999, he won the Hessen vote with a petition against plans to give citizenship to half the country's foreigners.
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