A German father of four took Chancellor Angela Merkel to task over her refugee policy at a virtual town-hall style meeting.

The 62-year-old was speaking to members of her Christian Democratic Union Party from Berlin via video chat when she was challenged by a party member from Frankfurt.

He told her he was 'afraid' for the first time in his life and argued the chancellor's policies on migration went against what many Germans wanted, it has been reported.

A German father-of-four took Chancellor Angela Merkel to task over her refugee policy at a virtual town-hall style meeting

According to Bloomberg, Merkel acknowledged that 'not everybody supports this policy'.

She is also said to have promised that the rapid intake of refugees Germany accepted over the last year would not be repeated.

Later in the video chat, she added: 'Don't think on a personal level that I'm not taking your fear seriously, just so we don't misunderstand each other. I take note of your criticism. But I think that the consequences if we didn't take the action that we did would have produced other worries.'

Merkel's popularity plunged after the arrival of nearly 900,000 asylum seekers from the world's crisis zones last year, but has recovered of late as arrivals have fallen.

The 62-year-old was speaking to members of her Christian Democratic Union Party from Berlin via video chat when she was challenged by a party member from Frankfurt

Earlier this week she moved a young Afghan boy to tears, shaking his hand after he publicly thanked her at a party meeting.

The boy, identified only as Edris, and his father attended a congress in Heidelberg Monday evening of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats.

Edris said: 'Thank you, Mrs. Merkel!' The chancellor replied: 'You've learned German well' and added 'keep practising.' He did, telling the chancellor: 'And I wanted to touch your hands once.'

Merkel stepped down from the podium to meet the boy and pose for photos. Video footage showed the youngster wiping away tears.