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Channel Nine Today Extra co-host Sonia Kruger angered her colleagues and viewers after she asked for a halt to Muslim immigration to Australia because she "would like to feel safe". Kruger’s views became apparent when she commented on an article by conservative columnist Andrew Colt, who wrote that jihadist terrorists had made France "Europe’s bloodiest battlefield" because "France let in the most Muslims". Kruger said: "Personally I think Andrew Bolt has a point here that there is a correlation between the number of Muslims in a country and the number of terrorist attacks. "I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful people but there are fanatics and does the population and a correlation between those two things have an effect?

Channel 9 Sonia Kruger's calls to ban Muslim immigration in Australia were met by heavy criticism

there is a correlation between the number of Muslims in a country and the number of terrorist attacks Sonia Kruger

"If you look at Japan, Japan has a population of 174 million and has 100,000 people in that country who are Muslim. We never hear of terrorist attacks in Japan. "Personally, I would like to see it stop now for Australia because I want to feel safe as all of our citizens do when they go out to celebrate Australia Day and I would like to see freedom of speech." Her comments caused a furious backlash from her fellow presenter David Campbell who rebuked her desire for "freedom of speech". "I would like to see freedom of religion as well, as well of freedom of speech because they both go hand-in-hand," Campbell told her.

"This breeds hate. This sort of article breeds hate… You are allowed to celebrate or worship whatever you want or what you don’t want to worship." Twitter users aggravated by Ms Kruger’s comments created hashtag: #asamother to vent their anger. One user wrote: "Comments by @SoniaKruger today do not represent the views of most Australians. We support immigration and asylum. #asamother #soniakruger" Another posted: "#asamother, what a disappointment Sonia Kruger, teach yourself and your children about compassion not division."

Bastille Day Massacre: 84 dead Sat, July 16, 2016 84 people have been killed and 100 more injured in the southern French city of Nice after a lorry was 'deliberately driven' into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in a confirmed terrorist attack. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 25 French President Francois Hollande giving a statement following the attack in Nice, during a national television address in Paris