MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Speaking at the Congress of the Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party, ahead of regional parliamentary elections, AfD leader Frauke Petry urged Merkel to leave, saying "Step down, you have not fulfilled your duty."
Petry accused the chancellor of failing to address the migration crisis and ignoring the increased threat of terrorism coming from Islamist militants.
The recent terror attacks in Paris raised concerns that terrorists could slip into the country among the stream of undocumented refugees.
"To deny that there is a connection between illegal immigration, uncontrolled migrant inflows and the rising threat of terrorism means to be politically naïve," the AfD chief said Saturday at the two-day party meeting in Hannover.
Merkel’s open-door policy on migration has been put to the test this year as hundreds of thousands of refugees from war-torn Middle East, Africa and Asia have poured into Germany.