[h=1]Thousands of German protesters prepare to take to the streets in 'Merkel Must Go' demonstration against the Premier's immigration policies they say have caused terror attacks[/h]
Thousands to gather in towns and cities across Germany today at 3pm
They are calling for her resignation over open door immigration policy
Comes after four brutal attacks leaving nearly a dozen dead in one week
Three of the attackers were among 1.1million who entered as refugees
By JAMES DUNN FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 12:35, 30 July 2016 | UPDATED: 15:25, 30 July 2016
Thousands will gather to call for Merkel's resignation today as she faces unprecedented pressure over the 'open door' immigration policy that many blame for recent terrorist attacks. More than 5,000 people are expected in Berlin and thousands in other major cities and towns throughout Germany, which remains on high alert after the ISIS-inspired attacks. The attacks led to fierce criticism over Merkel's immigration policy, which has seen 1.1million migrants and refugees enter Germany last year, many fleeing civil war and persecution in Syria.
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Thousands will gather to call for Merkel (pictured) to resign today as the chancellor faces unprecedented pressure over the open-door immigration policy that many blame for recent terrorist attacks
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The attacks led to fierce criticism over Merkel's immigration policy, which has seen 1.1million migrants and refugees enter Germany last year. Pictured is an protest calling for her resignation in May
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'Merkel must go' has been trending on social media as Germany, with people posting powerful pictures including one claiming that she has blood on her hands after recent attacks
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Some believe that the open door policy that has brought more than one million Syrians to Germany is destroying the country. Pictured is an image circulating on Twitter
Merkel faced fresh fury over the 'open door' policy after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as refugees. The German Chancellor's premiership now hangs by a thread as thousands gather to call for her resignation amid a wave of public opinion that she has ruined Germany. 'Merkel must go' has been trending on social media, with people posting powerful pictures including one claiming that she has blood on her hands after recent attacks.
The picture shows her splattered with blood, while another depicts her wearing a Burka. Recent attacks have fuelled the right-wing movement, which has long called for stricter immigration controls, particularly in Bavaria, where she faces heavy criticism from high-profile politicians. Today, thousands of protesters calling for her to step down will also meet counter-protests from the anti-right-wing movement, with people standing by Merkel.
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Ali David Sonboly reportedly saw it as an 'especially positive fate' that his birthday was on the same day as Adolf Hitler's, April 20
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Flowers and tributes are left at the Olympia Shopping Centre in Munich where Ali David Sonboly killed nine people in a shooting rampage on Friday
A new survey found that 83 per cent of Germans see immigration as their nation's biggest challenge - twice as many as a year ago. But despite criticism, last week Merkel defiantly stood by German policy, although she admitted that Germans had a right to feel 'mocked' by recent attacks. The Chancellor said the spate of killings was 'oppressive and depressing' but insisted they were not a sign her government had lost control. She said: 'The fact that two men who came to us as refugees are responsible mocked the country that took them in.
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Axe attack: The bloody week of violence in Germany began with Pakistani teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, 17, posing as an Afghan refugee slashing passengers on a train in Wurzburg, wounding five
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Carnage: Gruesome pictures taken in the hours after the attack showed the blood-soaked interior of the train. Ahmadzai, who appeared in a chilling ISIS video, was shot dead by police
'It mocks the volunteers who have taken so much care of refugees. And it mocks the many other refugees who truly seek protection from war and violence with us, who want to live peacefully.' But the German Chancellor said fear could not be allowed to dictate immigration policy, saying: 'Despite the great unease these events inspire, fear can't be the guide for political decisions. 'It is my deep conviction that we cannot let our way of life be destroyed.' A spate of sexual assaults on women in Cologne at New Year was blamed on the migrant influx and the country has been left reeling after four brutal attacks in the space of a week. The deadliest was carried out by a German-born teenager who opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself. Investigators said he had psychiatric problems and far-right 'sympathies' and have ruled out any Islamist motive.
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Evil: ISIS jihadi Mohammad Daleel, a failed Syrian asylum seeker, blew himself up outside a wine bar in Ansbach after he was turned away from a music festival for not having a ticket
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Video: Daleel, who injured 12 people in the attack, appeared in a chilling video pledging his allegiance to ISIS. His claim for asylum was rejected and he was one of 200,000 in the country awaiting deportation
[h=3]FOUR DEADLY ATTACKS IN A WEEK[/h]The deadliest attack came last Friday when a German-Iranian teenager who was born and raised in Munich opened fire at a downtown shopping mall, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself.
He had been under psychiatric treatment and investigators say he was obsessed with mass shootings, including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre.
They have ruled out an Islamist motive, saying the assailant had far-right 'sympathies'.
On July 18, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan slashed train passengers and a passer-by with an axe and a knife in Wuerzburg before being shot by police.
And on Sunday, a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15 people at a nearby cafe after being turned away from the packed open-air venue. IS claimed both attacks.
Already steeped in grief and shock, Germans were further rattled by news that a Syrian refugee had killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen Sunday in what authorities called a personal dispute.
But IS has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Bavaria - a failed Syrian asylum seeker who blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15, and an Afghan asylum seeker who slashed five train passengers with an axe and a knife before being shot by police. A Syrian refugee killed a Polish woman with a knife in Reutlingen, although authorities blamed the attack on a personal dispute. She announced new security measures including an 'early warning system' to detect radicalisation among refugees, better training for the military to respond to attacks and quicker deportation of failed asylum seekers. Mohammed Daleel, the Ansbach suicide bomber, was able to stay in Germany despite his asylum application being rejected and twice being ordered to be deported. Mrs Merkel said the EU's deal with Turkey would mean the number of migrants arriving in Germany would be greatly reduced. But she repeated her conviction that the country had a duty to help people fleeing war and persecution, adding: 'I am still convinced that we can do it – it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge.' The state government in Bavaria has called for an upper limit on numbers of new asylum seekers, and tougher controls on those already in Germany. Its interior minister Joachim Herrman said: 'Islamist terrorism has unfortunately arrived in Bavaria. We are awaiting urgent action from the federal government and Europe – now is the time to act.'
[h=2]Merkel on the ropes: Thousands of German protesters take to the streets saying she 'Must Go' and a key coalition ally withdraws support to open-door immigration policy after terror attacks [/h][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]More than 5,000 protested in Berlin (pictured) and thousands more throughout Germany over the 'open-door' policy that many have blamed for four brutal terrorist attacks that left 13 dead over the last month. The Chancellor (top and inset) faced a fresh wave of fury after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as refugees. Now her key ally in Bavaria - which bore the brunt of the attacks - has launched a fresh attack on her leadership.
