People watch an open-air "anti-racism concert" in Chemnitz, Germany, September 3, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said she stood by her earlier comments condemning images of hate and the targeting of innocent people broadcast after a far-right protest triggered by a fatal stabbing in the eastern city of Chemnitz last month.
Far-right leaders have called for Merkel and her spokesman Steffen Seibert to apologise for exaggerating the anti-migrant violence after the state premier of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer on Wednesday said that "no witchhunt" had occurred in the protests.
Merkel, asked about the issue, told reporters: "We saw pictures that very clearly revealed hate and thereby also the persecution of innocent people. One must distance oneself from that. That is what Mr. Seibert did, and I am doing, and have already done." (Reporting by Andrea Shalal Editing by Maria Sheahan)
