The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, has demanded an immediate parliamentary vote on closing the country’s borders following the attack in the southern city of Aschaffenburg.
Weidel, the party’s candidate for chancellor in the German election on February 23, said the conservative CDU/CSU bloc must abandon its “firewall” on cooperation with the AfD in order to pass legislation on the “closure of borders and turning back of illegal immigrants.”
“There must be no more firewall deaths,” Weidel said on X on Thursday, one day after two people including a 2-year-old child were killed in a stabbing by a 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker.
Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has repeatedly ruled out cooperating with the AfD, who are second in the polls.
Germany last year introduced border checks despite Schengen Area rules on free movement.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has signalled she intends to extend the checks beyond March 2025.
