Angry politician dispatches bus full of refugees to Angela Merkel’s office

An irate politician has dispatched a bus filled with dozens of refugees on a seven-hour journey to German chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin as a protest against her open-door refugee policy. Peter Dreier from Landshut in Germany’s southern state of Bavaria said 31 refugees were making the 550km trip to the capital and were likely arrive on Thursday afternoon. Police officers were earlier seen shepherding dozens of men and women with bags onto a bus in a sunny country road lined with trees and chalets.

If Germany is taking in 1 million refugees, mathematically that means 1,800 will come to my district. I will take them and if there are any more, I will send them to your office.

Peter Dreier

Mr Dreier appeared to be acting on a threat he made to Ms Merkel last year. Critical of her mantra that Germany can cope with the influx of migrants, he reportedly issued a warning to the chancellor in a phone call in October. He represents the Freie Waehler, a loose grouping of politicians who do not have a common policy, but campaign on individual issues mostly at the local level. Ms Merkel is under increasing pressure to stem the flow of migrants coming to Germany, many from war zones in the Middle East or Africa. Some 1.1 million people arrived last year and several thousand continue to stream in every day.

Politics merkel