Berlin – The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is being replaced after clashing with Chancellor Angela Merkel over anti-migrant violence in the country.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Merkel’s office released a short statement Tuesday saying the head of Germany’s BfV spy agency, Hans-Georg Maassen, will be moved to a new position within the Interior Ministry.
The decision, which follows three-way talks between Merkel and the heads of two other parties in her governing coalition, is a defeat for conservatives in her Union bloc.
The center-left Social Democrats and some in Merkel’s party had been calling for Maassen to be fired for playing down recent far-right violence in the eastern city of Chemnitz.
Maassen has also been criticized for alleged improper contacts with members of the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany, which he denies.