Knife attack in Aschaffenburg sparks heated debate on Germany's migration policy

euronews (in English)

The attack in Aschaffenburg is the latest in a series of violent incidents in Germany, intensifying fears surrounding migration and increasing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

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00:00Germany's migration debate has once again been thrown into the spotlight after a man

00:06and child were killed in a knife attack by a former Afghan asylum seeker who had been

00:11told to leave the country.

00:14The incident in Aschaffenburg, occurring just weeks before Germany's parliamentary elections,

00:20has prompted opposition parties to leverage the attack as a platform to advocate for their

00:25stricter migration policies.

00:29Leader of the centre-right CDU party, Friedrich Merz, has already vowed to impose immediate

00:35border controls if he becomes chancellor, fuelling the debate with his statement that

00:40he did not care which political party the union's proposal received a majority from,

00:45even if it was the far-right AFD.

00:49Although Merz has claimed he does not want votes from the AFD, left-wing parties fear

00:55Merz's rhetoric implies his party could be open to collaboration with the far-right.

01:00Meanwhile, the ruling SPD party is re-introducing draft legislation on migration and security

01:14to the Bundestag, something it had previously failed to do due to opposition from the CDU.

01:25But with just four weeks to go and a growing wave of discontent pushing voters to the right,

01:42SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz is rapidly running out of time to win over the electorate.

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