Germany’s far-right leaders have blasted the chancellor’s “open-door” immigration policy, blaming it on the attack in Berlin.
Merkel’s own political party is even pointing the finger her way.
“These are Merkel’s dead,” Marcus Pretzell, chairman of the Alternative for Germany party in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted on Twitter.
Klaus Bouillon of Mrs Merkel’s CDU party stated:”We must state that we are in a state of war, although some people who want to see only the good can not see.
Merkel said she was “shocked and shaken” by the tragedy.
Merkel’s time may be up sooner than she thought if the attacker turns out to be a migrant allowed into Germany due to her open-door approach.
Daniel Hamilton, executive director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington stated:
“Germany hasn’t had an attack like this that’s killed a lot of people in a long time, so clearly there will be pressure on her.
“But there will also be a sense that Europeans are in this together, that it’s a common threat.”