German Neo-Nazis praise Australia's refugee policy

Germany's far right says turning back the boats is the right idea and should be applied to the influx of refugees currently crossing into Europe.

Ant-immigration protesters at a Neo-Nazi rally outside a refugee camp in Dresden.

Ant-immigration protesters at a Neo-Nazi rally outside a refugee camp in Dresden. Source: SBS Dateline

"Instead of accepting them into Australia they send them back home," Jens Baur from the far right NPD party tells a crowd outside a refugee camp in Dresden. "And only this is the one real solution and not how our government is going about it."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says refugees are welcome, but in a story for Dateline, Amos Roberts finds the reality is different in the former East Germany.

"What's happening here is a ridicule of the German people," Baur says. "No one is being sent back, no one is being sent home."
Jens Baur, who's NPD Party Chairman in Saxony, says Germany should adopt Australia's 'Turn Back the Boats' policy towards asylum seekers.
Jens Baur, who's NPD Party Chairman in Saxony, says Germany should adopt Australia's 'Turn Back the Boats' policy towards asylum seekers. Source: SBS Dateline
Germany could ultimately accept hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from countries like Syria, many of whom have made dangerous crossings of the Mediterranean by boat into Italy and Greece.

"The German marines are sent out to sea to go to the shores of Africa to then collect everyone on a blow-up mattress to bring them back to Europe," Baur tells the crowd.

"Refugees coming from Indonesia or the Philippines, who are on their way to Australia, are instantly caught and stopped by the Australian marine boats. Instead of accepting them into Australia they send them back home."

"This is the madness that's going on here in Europe."

He says Australia's policy, which he refers to as the 'No Way' campaign, and Hungary's decision to build a fence on its border are how Germany should be handling the migrant crisis.

"It is important for me to tell people that there are alternatives," he explains to Amos. "And it also offers a counter perspective towards what the German government is doing."
Protesters gather at an anti-immigration rally in Dresden.
Protesters gather at an anti-immigration rally in Dresden. Source: SBS Dateline
At another, larger, protest in Dresden, demonstrators shout 'lying press' at the media, but Amos says the mood towards him changed to being welcoming when they realised he was from Australia.

The encounters are part of this week's Dateline story, following two Syrian refugees as they travel across Europe.

Amos first met Muhammad Ismail and Alaa el-Din al-Farhat in Milan after they'd crossed into Italy by boat.

But their efforts to reach the UK ended in the makeshift refugee camps at Calais in France, and they travelled instead to Germany.
Amos then follows Alaa el-Din to Hamburg in the country's west and Muhammad to Hoyerswerda in the east, where he finds a very different reception to the relatively warm welcome of Hamburg.

"My friends, are you fed up to the back teeth with the millions that are invading our beautiful country?" is the rallying cry he hears there.

Watch the full story, Refugee Roulette:


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3 min read

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By Amos Roberts


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