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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has doubled down on comments he made about migration, saying many Germans and Europeans are “afraid to move around in public spaces.”

Merz has rejected criticism from some German political circles over his government’s tough stance on illegal immigration.

“But we still have this problem in the cityscape, of course, and that’s why the federal interior minister is facilitating and carrying out large-scale deportations,” he said during a visit to Potsdam last week.

GERMANY BRACES UNDER COLLAPSING GOVERNMENT AND LOOMING TRUMP TRADE WAR

The statement prompted backlash, some accusing the German leader of being racist. He rejected the criticism while on the sidelines of a summit on the Western Balkans in London, say

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