Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticised Merkel's handling of migrants, saying she had 'a lot of heart but no plan'

Berlin said they would shelter the refugees last night, but they were sent back on a coach to Landshut this morning

Peter Dreier said last year he would carry out the threat if district received more than 1,800 migrants

Bavarian politician had told Merkel he would send refugees to her office after warning her: 'We can't manage'


The busload of migrants sent on a seven-hour journey to Angela Merkel's office by a Bavarian governor in protest over the influx of refugees have been sent straight back.

The Syrian refugees were put on a coach yesterday in the southeastern town of Landshut and transported 340 miles to the German capital in an 'act of desperation' by Peter Dreier who warned the Chancellor: 'We can't manage'.

The bus, carrying 31 migrants, arrived shortly after 6pm (5pm GMT) in front of Merkel's chancellery in the centre of Berlin.

Several police officers shielded the refugees from reporters as officials asked them to board another bus waiting nearby that was to take them to local shelters.

However, the refugees refused to leave the bus and after a two-hour wait in front of the chancellery, the coach left for an overnight accommodation.

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Migrants sent on a seven-hour bus journey to Angela Merkel's office by a Bavarian governor in protest over the influx of refugees arrive outside the Chancellor's building last night. The refugees have been sent back today.

The refugees were put on a coach yesterday in the southeastern town of Landshut and transported 340 miles to the German capital in an 'act of desperation' by Bavarian governor Peter Dreier who warned the Chancellor: 'We can't manage'.

The refugees were put on a coach in Landshut, the southeastern town of Bavarian governor Peter Dreier (left), and transported 340 miles to the Berlin office of Angela Merkel (right)

This morning, they made their way back to Bavaria from a hotel in Hohen Neuendorf on the northern outskirts of Berlin, it was reported by Die Welt.

It came as Merkel's predecessor also criticised her handling of the migrant crisis, but backed her stance that Germany can't set a cap on the number of asylum-seekers it takes.

Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who led Germany from 1998 to 2005, told Friday's edition of the Handelsblatt daily that Merkel had 'a lot of heart but no plan' when she opened the borders to migrants last fall.

He said that Merkel's mistake 'was to allow an exception to turn into a new normality — an unlimited influx.'

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million asylum-seekers last year.

Some conservatives are pushing for a cap, but the centre-left Schroeder backed Merkel's position that that can't be done and there has to be an agreement to distribute refugees within the European Union.

In making his protest yesterday, Dreier appeared to be acting on a threat he made to Merkel last year.

Critical of her stance that Germany can cope with the influx of migrants, he is said to have issued a warning to the chancellor in a phone call in October.

And in an apparent victory for the Bavarian governor, the refugees were allowed to stay in Berlin and not in Bavaria - at least for last night.

Protest: Bavarian dictrict councillor Peter Dreier said he wanted to 'send a sign that refugee policy cannot continue like this.' Above, the 31 refugees arrive at the Federal Chancellery, Angela Merkel's office in Berlin

The refugees were put on a coach in southeastern Bavarian town of Landshut, and transported 340 miles to the German capital

Angry: An irate politician in Bavaria has sent a bus (pictured) packed with 31 migrants on a seven-hour journey to Angela Merkel's office in Berlin after warning the German leader: 'We can't manage'

Unaware: The refugees travelled voluntarily, but were not aware they were part of a political point scoring exercise against Merkel's 'open door' policy

But while the media and police stood around the bus, Berlin city officials inside were seen negotiating with the Bavarians as Syrians looked on with worried faces, glancing nervously at the TV cameras outside.

After two hours, Dreier said he had agreed to personally pay for the refugees' first night in a Berlin hotel, stressing that the bus had also been laid on by 'a private person', not with taxpayers money.

He said some of the refugees wanted to later take a look at available Berlin accommodation, others had asked to travel on to another city, Hamburg, and whoever wanted to could return to Landshut.

'Let's get some rest and see tomorrow,' said Dreier, of the small party 'Free Voters', sporting a traditional Bavarian coat for his trip to the capital.

The head of German refugee support group Pro Asyl, Guenther Burkhardt, criticised the refugee road trip, saying 'people are being exploited for the sake of media footage'.

'This doesn't solve the problems... this is a stunt that misuses the plight of refugees to send the message 'we want to close the borders',' he said.

Merkel has been praised for opening Germany's doors to those fleeing war and misery, but has also weathered harsh criticism, especially from Bavaria state, the main gateway for arriving refugees and migrants.

Dreier said: 'There is no end in sight to the wave of refugees and our country's ability to house them in a dignified way is deteriorating rapidly. And I don't see new apartments being built for the immigrants.'

Arrival: The bus, with refugees is pictured arriving at the Chancellery building in Berlin, this afternoon

He said his district had 66 migrant facilities and around 70 more refugees were coming every week.

'If Germany is taking in a million refugees, mathematically that means 1,800 will come to my district.

'I will take them and if there are any more, I will send them to your office,' Die Welt quoted Dreier as saying.

Although the 31 Syrians had official asylum status and were now free to look for a home anywhere in Germany, he said he had been keeping them in shelters so they would not end up homeless.

The refugees themselves reportedly had no idea they were being used as part of a protest against Merkel's policy, and merely thought they were being given an opportunity to visit relatives in Berlin, according to German news channel n-tv and Zeit newspaper's online edition.

Landshut spokesman Elmar Stoettner said that all the refugees on the bus had been granted asylum in Germany and volunteered to participate in the bus trip.

The spokesman added that the ones without family in the German capital will probably 'go back to Bavaria if, in Berlin, they say that they don't want them.'

Dreier represents the Freie Waehler, a loose grouping of politicians who do not have a common policy, but campaign on individual issues mostly at the local level.

Merkel is under increasing pressure to stem the flow of migrants coming to Germany, many from war zones in the Middle East or Africa, since she implemented a de facto 'open door' policy to migrants in response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said tonight in a statement that while the government is aware of the fact that the high number of refugees is a challenge for the communities, it also supports them financially in handling the crisis.

The federal government has also pledged to provide more than €1billion (1.08 billion dollars) annually until 2019 for social housing, Seibert pointed out.

Merkel is under increasing pressure to stem the flow of migrants coming to Germany, many from war zones in the Middle East or Africa

Local authorities are stretched both financially and logistically to house and look after refugees and there has been a backlash by right-wing groups who have warned of the problems of integration

Some 1.1 million people arrived last year and several thousand continue to cross the border every day, and frustration among the local community continue to increase as resources are under strain.

Local authorities are stretched both financially and logistically to house and look after refugees and there has been a backlash by right-wing groups who have warned of the problems of integration.

Mass sexual assaults on women in the western city of Cologne at New Year by gangs of young men described by police as being of Arab or North African in appearance, have deepened worries.

Police registered 652 criminal complaints related to the night's events, which saw nearly 100 women robbed and sexually assaulted.

Protests held by far-right anti-Islam groups in the wake of the attacks have swept across the country this month, with social media vigilante groups created to 'protect women from migrants' gaining thousands of members.

And hundreds of anti-refugee rioters caused chaos in Leipzig on Monday after a demonstration where they called for asylum seekers to be deported and their nation's borders closed.

The frustration in Bavaria, the main entry point for most migrants coming to Germany, is especially strong with Merkel's conservative allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), repeatedly calling on her to introduce a formal cap on migrant numbers.

Sheltered: Berlin city said they would offer overnight shelter for the refugees

She has resisted such a cap, arguing that it would be impossible to enforce.

But support for Merkel's conservatives has fallen according to the first mass opinion polls published since Cologne attacks.

The survey for public broadcaster ARD showed support for Merkel's conservative bloc, comprised of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), falling two points to 37 per cent.

It also showed a narrow majority of Germans to be sceptical that the country can manage its huge influx of migrants.

Asked whether they agreed with Merkel's optimistic 'we can do this' mantra, 51 per cent of the survey's respondents expressed doubts about Germany's ability to manage the crisis, while 44 per cent backed the chancellor's stance.

The poll showed that Germans were roughly evenly divided on whether the migrant influx scared them, with 48 per cent saying it did and 50 per cent saying it was not a source of concern.