Migrant boats caught in the Mediterranean by EU naval vessels should be sent straight back to North Africa, German officials have demanded.

The German interior ministry has told the EU that the only way migrants should be able to apply for asylum is at processing centres in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.

The scheme, which is modelled on Australia's hard-line methods, marks a radical departure from Angela Merkel's open-door policy that saw more than a million people arrive in her country last year.

Dangerous journey: German naval staff rescue migrants in the Mediterranean

It comes as record numbers attempt the dangerous journey from Libya to Italy despite the worsening winter weather.

Critics have claimed an EU naval operation in the Mediterranean has descended into a ferry service that has turned the route into a 'magnet for migrants'.

Smugglers are setting off from the North African coast in boats with only enough fuel to get them into international waters.

After reaching the high seas they phone rescuers asking for help knowing they will be picked up by EU ships that will take them to Italy.

The vast majority of those using the route are not entitled to asylum, but once in Europe they are able to travel freely because of the border-free Schengen Zone and can easily reach Calais.

Under the plan drawn up by Germany, migrants picked up in the Mediterranean would be sent to Tunisia, Egypt or other North African countries to apply for asylum.

Only if their applications are accepted will they be transported safely to Europe for distribution among EU countries.

REFUGEES 'PARALYSE' THE COURTS OF BERLIN Berlin's courts have been 'paralysed' by thousands of migrants filing lawsuits using legal aid, it has been claimed. Nearly 7,000 cases have been brought in the German capital already this year, compared with just 2,000 in the whole of 2015. A judge told newspaper Tagesspiegel that the legal claims, mostly related to asylum applications, 'will paralyse us for years'. Cases involving migrants – the majority of whom are Syrians – are being bundled into groups of 50 and distributed among the city's judges. Officials said the deluge of appeals is creating a backlog that means residents' claims about building permits or their children's schools face long waits. Administrative court spokesman Stephan Groscurth said: 'If it carries on like this the number of unsettled court actions will have doubled by the end of the year.' Advertisement

A ministry spokesman told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper: 'The elimination of the prospect of reaching the European coast could convince migrants to avoid embarking on the life-threatening and costly journey. The goal must be to deprive people-smuggling groups of their business model and to protect migrants from the life-threatening journey.'

Bernd Riexinger, head of the opposition Left party, said it would be 'a humanitarian scandal and a further step toward elimination of the right to asylum,' the paper reported.

He said asylum applications should be filed in Germany to ensure applicants had access to legal help and he called Australia's treatment of migrants 'absolutely unacceptable'.

Under Australia's controversial asylum system, boats carrying migrants from Indonesia are either towed back to where they came from or their passengers are sent to offshore processing centres on Pacific islands.

A record 27,272 arrived from North Africa into Italy last month taking the total so far this year to more than 161,000 – easily surpassing the 153,000 in 2015. More than 4,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in 2016.

At the same time, doubts are being raised about the EU's £5billion deal with Turkey that has curbed numbers arriving into the continent via the Greek islands.

Austria's foreign minister Sebastian Kurz said alternatives needed to be looked at because of the country's crackdown in the wake of a failed coup earlier this year.

'In Turkey, opposition figures are being arrested, journalists are being persecuted and officials are being fired if they think differently, and the return of the death penalty is being talked about,' he said.

The ministry said there were no concrete plans or discussions at EU-level about the proposal

FAR RIGHT PROTESTERS MARCH IN BERLIN Hundreds of far-right protesters have marched through Berlin calling for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be removed from office. Police accompanied the protest through the German capital's former Jewish district, at one point forcibly removing a blockade staged by far-left counter-demonstrators. The protest began at the city's main train station, where speakers criticized the government's decision to allow large numbers of migrants into Germany. A crowd of up to 500 people chanted slogans such as 'Merkel must go!' Advertisement

Earlier this year, a cross-party Lords report warned that the EU's search-and-rescue operation in the Mediterranean acted as a 'magnet to migrants and eases the task of smugglers, who would only need their vessels to reach the high seas'.

It added: 'The mission does not... in any meaningful way deter the flow of migrants, disrupt the smugglers' networks, or impede the business of people smuggling.'

Mrs Merkel has been under fire for her open-door refugee policy, with her party losing votes to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in recent regional elections.

On Saturday night hundreds of far-right protesters marched through Berlin calling for her to be removed from office.

Elsewhere, a group of 30 far-right supporters ambushed and beat up three young Afghan refugees in the town of Heidenau in east Germany on Friday night.

The three Afghanis needed hospital treatment for their injuries but were later released. Two men from the mob which attacked them have been arrested and face charges of causing grievous bodily harm.

Since the beginning of the year there have been 1,800 attacks against asylum seekers and their accommodations in a sign of the tensions in Germany.

There have been nearly 200 incidents of grievous bodily harm against the refugees.

Mrs Merkel has been under fire for her open-door refugee policy, with her party losing votes to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany in recent elections

In an indication of the simmering racial tensions in the country, a 12ft high barrier is being erected in Munich to protect locals from young refugees who are set to move into the area.

Locals campaigned for the wall, in the suburb of Neuperlach Süd, after authorities decided that some 160 young unaccompanied migrants will move into a large shelter which is less than 100 metres from a residential estate.

Critics claim the wall is further proof of the alienation voters feel with Chancellor Angela Merkel's open refugee policy.