Alix Cuthbertson and Zoie O’Brien — Daily Express July 25, 2016
The German Chancellor has been heavily criticised for being slow to react to the four horror attacks in which 15 people have been killed and scores injured in the last seven days.
The latest attack took place in Ansbach, near Nuremburg, when a Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a wine bar during a music festival.
Three people were critically injured in the suicide bomber’s blast and nine more injured in the horrifying attack in the city’s old town.
Germany’s interior minister Joachim Herrmann said the man was carrying materials including wood and nails which could have killed many more at the wine bar at 10.30pm on Sunday.
The most recent attack follows the killing of a pregnant woman by a machete-wielding Syrian refugee in Reutlingen, near Stuttgart, on Saturday.
Two others were injured in the attack which sparked outrage over Mrs Merkel’s immigration policy.
Swathes of Germans are calling for her resignation after she actively welcomed 1.1million refugees into the country last year.
She has been blamed for fuelling the European migrant crisis by promising to welcome those who make it Germany – mostly illegally – from outside the EU.
This year there have been multiple protests against the policy after scores of women were sexually assaulted at various events across the country, which started off during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne.
Calls for Mrs Merkel’s resignation have ramped up this week.
On Monday a 17 year old Afghan refugee carried out a sickening axe attack on a train in Würzburg, seriously injuring five people, four who were tourists from Hong Kong.
Brutal terror group Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The country was still on high alert when 18 year old German-Iranian Ali David Sonboly shot dead nine people, mainly teens, in the centre of Munich on Friday evening.
Mrs Merkel took almost 24 hours to release a statement, many hours after other world leaders and politicians did, including French President Francois Hollande, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson and US President Barack Obama.
And just two days later, Germans have had to face further terror after the Syrian refugee slaughtered a pregnant clearer working in a kebab shop.
On Sunday evening, Munich Police arrested a 16 year old Afghan friend of Sonboly on suspicion of helping him plan Friday’s attack.
Mike Hookem, UKIP’s defence spokesman, has warned over the past two years of the “huge security risks” posed by the German Chancellor’s open door migrant policy.
Following the brutal slaughter of the pregnant woman in Reutlingen and the week’s two other attacks he said she “has blood on her hands”.
The MEP accused Mrs Merkel of ignoring the “direct threats from ISIS” last summer when they said they would “flood” Europe with jihadi fighters.
He said: “And here we have another devastating attack in Germany with the perpetrator a Syrian migrant.
“Once these people have German passports they can travel to all the other countries in the EU so Merkel has not only created a problem for Germany but for other EU countries too – and it’s impossible to put the cork back in the bottle.
“Mrs Merkel, meanwhile, appears to be in hiding.
“Even though the German authorities are still insisting that this is nothing to do with terrorism, we have someone who has come into Germany from Syria and killed innocent people, continuing this summer of slaughter.
“As I see it, her and her ministers and advisors as well as the dangerous idiots in the European Commission have put people’s lives at risk and in some terrible cases, cost lives.”
Chancellor Merkel’s ruling party suffered widespread losses to the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland in this year’s local elections.
And as the nation gets set to go to vote in the national federal elections next year, polls are suggesting she could be ousted.
Social media users this week have been flooding Twitter with calls for her resignation as they hold her responsible for the three atrocities in seven days.
User @HillBuzz aka Kevin DuJan said: “What will it take for Angela Merkel to resign from office? German people need to wake up she is responsible for all of this.”
J Mäntyvaara added: “Angela Merkel must leave after this because she is dangerous for whole Europe.”