Insecurity grows among refugees and migrants while Germany moves to the polls | News of the election

Berlin/Kottbus, Germany – Germany prepares for elections with high roles, in the midst of fear that the extremely right feelings are growing as migration policies are sitting in the center of political debate.

In Cottbus, a city in Eastern Brandenburg, the mood is tense while voters are preparing to move toward polling stations With the rest of Germany on February 2, after the three -page coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz led by his Social Democratic Party (SPD) last November.

Outside the city center, Jana Zistel, a German resident in Cottbus, is not sure which party will support, but she is sure of her attitude against the far right Alternative to Germany (AFD) A party, which suddenly jumped popularity among the eastern cities.

“Yes, I know that many people are great supporters of AFD here, but I just don’t understand that. The Germans are foreigners in other places,” she told Al Jazeera.

Known for its migration views, the success of the group marks the first time in decades that the extreme right party in Germany has gained such popularity.

According to the latest polling stationThe conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leads the polls, followed by AFD. Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) are third in third place.

“In Germany, a rather tense atmosphere is in Germany, and refugees feel a variable attitude towards them,” said Judith Wiebke, a spokeswoman for PRO Asyl, a German pro-Imigratory group.

Wiebke told Al Jazeera that fear in immigrant communities is growing as close to choice.

“We get feedback that there is a new fear in the Syrian community for their future in the German and Afghan community [too,] He is worried about the call for regular flights to Afghanistan, “she said.

The firewall breaks up?

Migration is a controversial topic in the European Union, with the leaders of the 27-member block often arguing about how to implement a unique policy of migration and asylum.

Germany, however, held a relatively open door policy for migrants. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel of the CDU/CSU party was declared in 2015: “Wir Schaffen Das!” or “we can do it!” and welcomed hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers. But the CDU/CSU has since abolished immigration.

The Government of the Chancellor Scholz of 2022 has mitigated the process of gaining German residence and citizenship, alleviating the path to migrants and refugees and encouraging criticisms of political opponents.

CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz called the “wrong” policy.

On the trail of the campaign he blamed those policies for A recent series of deadly attacks It rocking the country and killing many people. In the last case last week, a two -year -old girl and her mother was killed in Munich When the car ran into the crowd. Nationals from Afghanistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia were arrested for killings.

In January, after one such attack, Merz suggested an inexplicable resolution in the German parliament to return more asylum seekers at the borders. He passed, but with the support of AFD. This broke the seemingly impenetrable “firewall” policy, which saw that parties were refusing to work with the far right for decades.

Parliament narrow rejected Merz’s binding version of the proposal for migration, but the shocked opposition leader accused him in terrifying speeches of breaking the firewall. Even Merkel, a former chancellor who was otherwise absent from politics, condemned her colleague colleague CDU. Thousands of people across Germany went out to the streets in protestcalling for a ban.

The Scholz government also began to consolidate the asylum regulations. In August, 28 Afghans were deported. His government also introduced the land border checks, unusual in the EU.

The effects of these measures are already feeling.

Carolina Rehrmann, a parliamentary candidate Mera25, an independent German political party, said Al Jazeera that there is a general climate of insecurity in Germany for immigrants that make people not express their opinion openly.

“They are stigmatized and marked as a collective threat, a particularly extreme right,” she added.

All but the current government

Founded in 2013, AFD first became popular in the Eurosceptics, because initially a campaign against the decision of the EU Member States to draw Greece, which was released in a debt-in-depth Germany.

Then, 2015, as waves Asylum seekers She moved to Europe, the Rhetoric of AFD has moved to immigration and observed the danger of Muslim migrants.

“Remigracy” – a policy that would see mass deportations of immigrants and naturalized citizens; euro removal; And military recruitment is some of the main promises of the party.

Under the leadership of Alice Weidel, the AFD stronghold is in eastern cities such as Cottbus because of the observed economic inequality between East and West Germany after re -unification, which left popular anger. The party also managed to use the young audience, maintaining a strong presence of Tikict.

“It’s a protest voice because people are frustrated,” said Ines Heider, a parliamentary candidate for a revolutionary international organization (Rio), an independent group that promised open borders and end of weapon for Israel. The German media is called a “left extremist” group.

“Zero percent of the Germans want this current government to restart, so they are looking for an alternative. The other day I went on the strike of the bus driver, and one of them told me:” I don’t like AfD, but I don’t really know who else to vote, ” she said.

In January, AFD shocked the country when its regional branch in southwestern Karlsruhe City sent more than 30,000 false tickets to migrants’ fake tickets. Tickets of February 23 said that a traveler named “Ilegal Imigrant” is reserved on a one -way flight from Germany to a “safe country of origin”.

Marcel Bauer, a parliamentary candidate of the left party in Karlsruhe, told Al Jazeera that people who received tickets, ranging from Cameroon to Syrian nationals, were devastated.

“Adult people cried me because they fear for their families after receiving these tickets,” said Bauer, who filed a lawsuit against AFD spokesman Karlsruhe. “For the far right, every migrant is a bad person,” he added.

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) sent tickets to the deportation of Jews before World War II, Bauer said. Now AFD uses similar “fascist” methods, he added.

AFD did not respond to the commentary request. MP Marc Bernhard, a candidate for Karlsruhe parties, told the German public territory SWR that ticket distribution was an election stunt for everyone and not specifically sent to people with “foreign names”.

Rarely any of the sides, even the departing coalition led by the SPD, emphasizes the contributions of migrants to the German economy, allowing the Rhetoric of AFD to hold the country, said Marc Helbling, professor of political sociology at the University of Mannheim.

If the foreigners were departing, the German construction sectors and the health sector, among other things, would simply stop working, Helbling said.

“From a purely economic perspective, it is clear that Germany, as well as any other Western country, depends largely on migration,” he added.

Israeli war against gauze

Although thousands of miles, Genocide in Gaza He has cast a long shadow on a political discourse in Germany since the beginning of the war.

Berlin stands firmly beside his federal Israel, justifying his solidarity based on historical feelings of guilt for the Holocaust. Germany was also one of the most fertile Israeli weapons suppliers.

Rehrmann, a candidate for Mera25, said the current German rhetoric against immigration is related to the Israeli war against Gaza.

“We saw people coming from the Middle East [to Germany]Considering not only a threat, but also the main source of anti -Semitism in Germany, “she said.

About 100,000 people of Palestinian origin lives in Germany, and a quarter of them in the Berlin district Neukoeln.

German police are actively breaking weekly pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin and other cities, while local media often mark protests and Arabic or Muslim gatherings-like fertile bases for anti-Semitism, a crime punishable by a two-year term or a fine.

Last November, in the midst of huge protests against Israel, the Bundestag adopted the more severe definitions of anti -Semitism, even when groups for real such as Amnesty International, and a few MPs warned that it could violate international law.

Police forbade all languages ​​except German and English in Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in January. During the protest, officials cited increased crimes and anti -Semitism, but critics say it is an attempt to target Arab speakers.

Ever since the war began in Gaza, Islamophobia in Germany has jumped abruptly, according to the claim of the law monitoring. Incidents, such as verbal attacks on Muslims or attacks on mosques, increased by 114 percent between 2022 and 2023, the organization reported.

Hugh Williamson, director of Human Rights Watch, based in Berlin, said that negative rhetoric, including blaming violence by individuals for the entire group, was concerned. He also warned that the adoption of several right -wing policies by the main parties was not an answer.

“Although this may be intended to draw support, we have seen in Europe again to have the opposite effect, normalizing politics and parties against the rights in the way to make it easier for voters to support.”