A right-wing German party plans to lodge a legal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel, accusing her of “people smuggling” for allowing thousands of asylum seekers into the country after they got stuck on the Hungarian border

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) said yesterday it would make the complaint to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, hoping that it would open preliminary proceedings against the chancellor.

“Angela Merkel has operated as a smuggler,” deputy party leader Alexander Gauland told reporters. Responding, Ms Merkel’s spokes-man Steffen Seibert said that citizens were free to make legal complaints as they saw fit.

Last month, Ms Merkel said asylum seekers were welcome to come to Germany, averting a humanitarian crisis after Hungary – an eastern outpost of the European Union’s passport-free Schengen zone – tried to stop migrants, largely from the Middle East and Asia, from entering from Serbia, which is not in the EU.

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