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| Merkel fights back tears announcing election results |
Anti-Angela Merkel protestors have taken to the streets to vent their anger at the German minster they blame for adding further chaos to the migrant crisis.
The anger comes as many of the population head to polls today, in what is expected to deliver a crushing blow to the leader's party.
Early exit polls indicate not only was there a rise in the number of German's taking to the ballot box, support for her party has plummeted.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives lost in two out of three state elections as Germans punished her accommodative refugee policy with a big vote for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), exit polls showed.
The losses in both Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland Palatinate represented a worst-case scenario for Merkel, who has staked her legacy on her decision last year to open Germany's doors to over 1 million migrants - a move voters snubbed.
The backlash was also visible in Saxony-Anhalt in former East Germany, where Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) remained the largest party but saw the AfD grab 21.5 percent of the vote as it burst into all three regional parliaments.
Merkel has faced fierce criticism since calling for refugees to head for Germany where she said they would be welcomed.
Over a million migrants have since arrived in the country.
Demonstrators who took to the streets of Germany’s capital on Saturday chanted "Merkel must go" and "We are the people" as they paraded with German flags.
The group of 2,000 were accompanied Saturday by a heavy police escort in a bid to keep them away from a nearby smaller counter-protest.
German Chancellor Merkel is accused of adding fuel to the migrant crisis with after she insisted her country would “manage” the migrants who entered.
However after registering 1.2m asylum seekers in 2015 alone the country appeared to perform a u-turn.
The mass movements of migrants across the EU bloc from war torn countries including Syria, and some from Africa, has all but broken the Schengen agreement as struggling countries erect temporary blocks at their borders.
The rallies took place near the Berlin central station.
Armed police squads are on duty at the station, on platforms and exits.
Early exit polls indicate not only was there a rise in the number of German's taking to the ballot box, support for her party has plummeted.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives lost in two out of three state elections as Germans punished her accommodative refugee policy with a big vote for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), exit polls showed.
The losses in both Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland Palatinate represented a worst-case scenario for Merkel, who has staked her legacy on her decision last year to open Germany's doors to over 1 million migrants - a move voters snubbed.
The backlash was also visible in Saxony-Anhalt in former East Germany, where Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) remained the largest party but saw the AfD grab 21.5 percent of the vote as it burst into all three regional parliaments.
Merkel has faced fierce criticism since calling for refugees to head for Germany where she said they would be welcomed.
Over a million migrants have since arrived in the country.
Demonstrators who took to the streets of Germany’s capital on Saturday chanted "Merkel must go" and "We are the people" as they paraded with German flags.
The group of 2,000 were accompanied Saturday by a heavy police escort in a bid to keep them away from a nearby smaller counter-protest.
German Chancellor Merkel is accused of adding fuel to the migrant crisis with after she insisted her country would “manage” the migrants who entered.
However after registering 1.2m asylum seekers in 2015 alone the country appeared to perform a u-turn.
The mass movements of migrants across the EU bloc from war torn countries including Syria, and some from Africa, has all but broken the Schengen agreement as struggling countries erect temporary blocks at their borders.
The rallies took place near the Berlin central station.
Armed police squads are on duty at the station, on platforms and exits.
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