Angela Merkel booed in Tallinn by protesters
September 29, 2017
A group of protesters waving signs denouncing "mass immigration" awaited Merkel as she visited Tallinn for a digitalization summit with other European Union leaders on Friday.
The demonstrators from the nationalist-conservative EKRE party held banners in German and English urging the end of a multi-cultural Europe.
"We think that the immigration crisis is largely the fault of Frau Merkel. What she did was so malignant, so evil against the people of Europe and she needs to be reminded that her hands are with blood," Martin Helme of EKRE said.
The sentiments expressed at the protest - described as relatively small by DW reporters on the ground - echoed those of other anti-migration movements in Europe including Pegida, the Identitarians and the far-right populist political party Alternative for Germany, which picked up 12.6 percent of the vote in Germany's nationwide elections.
Estonia, a Baltic country of about 1.3 million, took in 77 refugees and asylum seekers under EU agreements by the end of 2016. It had planned to accept some 550 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece over a two-year period under EU migrant relocation and resettlement plans.