Germany's Merz attacks AfD in stormy debate after far-right election win
Germany's chancellor clashes with AfD leader Alice Weidel, saying her migration policy amounts to "ethnic cleansing" for skilled workers.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has clashed with AfD leader Alice Weidel in parliament, calling her party a "destructive force" with a migration policy that amounts to "ethnic cleansing" for skilled workers.
Merz was addressing the Bundestag in the aftermath of the anti-immigration party's sweeping victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt where it won almost 44% of the vote, while the chancellor's conservatives saw their vote halved.
Weidel told MPs that voters had shown that Merz's coalition with the centre left was a total failure and his time was up.
Repeatedly heckled by AfD MPs, the chancellor told Weidel that one in six skilled workers had a migration background, and if her party had its way then its policy would amount to "nothing other than an ethnic cleansing in the skilled trades based on skin colour and origin".