This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The fate of Germany’s intelligence chief is hanging in the balance after the government held a crisis meeting on Thursday afternoon to discuss his future.

There have been widespread calls for Hans-Georg Maaßen’s resignation after he cast doubt on evidence of foreign people being hounded by far-right protesters in the east German town of Chemnitz.

Leading government figures including the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, and Andrea Nahles, the Social Democrat (SPD) leader, left the 90-minute meeting in Angela’s Merkel’s office in Berlin looking stony-faced and refusing to comment.

According to a spokesman for the interior ministry, no decision will be made until Tuesday at the earliest, when talks on the issue are to resume.

Maaßen, who has been president of the domestic intelligence agency, BfV, for six years, appeared before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday evening to explain his stance on footage that appeared to show foreigners being hunted down during protests in Chemnitz last month.

Maaßen had cast doubt on the authenticity of the footage, saying he believed it might have been part of a wider media misinformation campaign.

For days, opposition politicians and members of the SPD, partners in Merkel’s grand coalition, have been saying his position is untenable. It is the latest immigration-related row to shake Merkel’s fragile government and threaten its cohesion.

In his comments, Maaßen directly contradicted Merkel’s description of the events in Chemnitz, which her spokesman – talking on her behalf – referred to as a Hetzjagd, or hounding of migrants. Maaßen said he had seen no evidence that this had taken place.

Merkel has stopped short of criticising Maaßen, but members of her government have expressed their anger and irritation at what appears to some to have been a deliberate attempt to undermine her.

Maaßen’s doubts are shared by the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland, whose leader, Alexander Gauland, repeated in parliament on Wednesday the party’s belief that no such hounding took place in Chemnitz, and accused Merkel of spreading fake news.

Maaßen has the staunch backing of Seehofer, his direct boss, who is also leader of the Christian Social Union. Seehofer is Merkel’s arch-rival in government and has repeatedly clashed with her over immigration policy.

The loudest calls for Maaßen to resign have come from the SPD, whose general secretary, Lars Klingbeil, tweeted on Thursday: “It’s totally clear that Maaßen must go and Merkel needs to act now.”

The party’s deputy leader, Ralf Stegner, tweeted: “The ball is now in the court of the chancellor and that of the CSU chairman. There is no trust any more. Herr Maaßen is no longer acceptable and must go.”

On Monday Maaßen produced a report for Seehofer and Merkel explaining the basis for his original comments, which were made in an interview to Bild.

In the report he appeared to modify his original statement, saying he had not claimed the video was falsified, in the strict sense of the word, or the result of a manipulation, and he had only wanted to draw attention to the fact that it was incorrect to deduce from the video that foreigners had been hounded in Chemnitz.