Germany and the rise of the extreme right, Merkel: disappointment does not justify hatred

• Germany, with a Dresden resolution proclaims the 'Nazi state of emergency'

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Chancellor Angela Merkel, in commenting on the electoral successes of the right-wing AFD extremists in the former DDR, said that a disappointment for German unification does not justify the use of hatred or even violence. "Even if you are not happy with local public transport, medical assistance, state action in general or your own existence, it does not result in a right to hatred or contempt for other people or even violence" said the chancellor in an interview with the weekly Der Spiegel published online today.

The statement came in response to a question about the three electoral successes achieved since September in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia by Afd, under accusation for positions and xenophobic acts, anti-Semitic and sometimes contiguous with neo-Nazism. In the face of similar behavior, Merkel said, "there can be no tolerance".

Last week, the city of Dresden, the capital of Saxony, with a resolution of the city council declared itself a "neo-Nazi emergency". The Islamophobic Pegida movement was born here. His leader (later resigned) had himself photographed disguised as Hitler.