German Politician Suggests Shooting at Migrants ‘In Case of Emergency'

The statement caused strong criticism across Germany, with the police saying they won't be ready to open fire on innocent people.

The chairman of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), Frauke Petry, called for a much more rigorous monitoring of the German borders and suggested that the police should threaten migrants with the use of firearms in case of emergency.

"We need efficient controls to prevent so many unregistered asylum-seekers keeping on entering via Austria," Petry told the German newspaper Mannheimer Morgen.

In her opinion, the use of weapons is the last resort to stop migrants from illegally crossing the German border.

"No policeman wants to fire on a refugee and I don't want that either. But as a last resort there should be recourse to firearms," the politician said, causing strong criticism among German population and the country's authorities.

In Petry's opinion, Germany should deploy enough border security forces and establish border security systems, including fences. In case a refugee would try to climb over it, "the police must prevent the refugee from entering the German soil".

Germany is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving their crisis-torn countries of origin in North Africa and the Middle East for stable and wealthy EU member states.

More than one million refugees entered Germany in 2015, making German residents fear that the country won't be able to cope with the growing influx and ensure proper integration of newcomers.