Merkel vows to press on with rallies despite jeers

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Thursday to press on with election campaign rallies in places where she has been greeted with choruses of jeers and whistles, saying she intended to take a stand against hate.

At several rallies, particularly in eastern states such as Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, protesters - many holding campaign posters for the populist AfD party or the far-right NPD, have loudly booed or chanted slogans against Merkel.

More than 100 demonstrators sought to disrupt Merkel's rally on Wednesday in the Saxony city of Torgau, whistling, booing and chanting "Get lost".

Police said that two men at the Torgau rally, aged 36 and 39, made the Nazi salute.

Merkel warned voters not to risk allowing an untested left-wing alliance to take power after the national election, urging them to stick with her.

"Our country can't afford experiments - especially in these turbulent times," she said.

Hours later at a rally in Finsterwalde, the chancellor was given a similarly hostile reception.

But Merkel said she would not be deterred.

"It is important to me to keep going where I'm not getting a friendly reception," she said in an interview with the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland newspaper group.

"Many people who do not subscribe to the concert of whistles or chorus of chants need encouragement to keep showing civil courage and to stand up against the hate," she said.

Merkel has also faced protesters in western states during her public appearances ahead of the Sept 24 vote.

At a rally in Heidelberg on Tuesday, protesters threw tomatoes at her.

The dpa news agency reported one tomato glanced off Merkel's hip, while one slightly splattered the moderator standing next to her. Merkel shrugged off the incident with a smile and gave the moderator a tissue.

Police are searching for the assailants on suspicion of attempted bodily harm and attempted property damage.

Polls showed that Merkel's conservative alliance is holding a strong lead of around 15 percentage points against the runner-up Social Democratic Party.

But her decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to thousands of refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq split public opinion.

The AfD is seeking to win its first seats in parliament with its anti-immigration and anti-Islam platform.

Afp - Ap

(China Daily 09/08/2017 page12)