Merkel stands by comments condemning images of hate

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 apologize 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."

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