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IMMIGRATION

Berlin’s transit firm won’t stop trolling this far-right AfD politician

Berlin's transportation company keeps reminding a Berlin politician from the anti-immigrant AfD party how immigrants actually help him, in a not so subtle way.

Berlin's transit firm won't stop trolling this far-right AfD politician
An U-Bahn train in Berlin. Photo: DPA.

Berlin state parliament representative Gunnar Lindemann quite enjoys tweeting about his journeys on the capital city’s public transit system, run by company BVG. And whenever he posts a picture of his ride, or thanks the company’s workers, Lindemann makes sure to tag BVG’s Twitter account, which has become known for its snarky commentary.

At the height of this past winter, for example, BVG posted a picture of their rail lines covered in snow with the caption: “Still eight days until Fashion Week and already there’s white powder everywhere.”

But BVG took their irreverent humour to another level when they started responding to Lindemann, whose party has gained popularity through its anti-immigrant rhetoric amid discontent with Germany's intake of more than one million refugees in recent years.

Each time Lindemann thanks the company and its workers for bringing him safely to his destination, BVG responds by telling him the driver on his trip was named “Dschamal” or “by the way, Hakan” – implying quite strongly with the use of non-German names that he should be thanking immigrants for their work.

After Lindemann tweeted that he was on his way to the parliament building, BVG tweeted back “kind regards from Tarek, the driver”.

Lindemann responded back, saying “my regards to my driver Tarek”. But BVG wrote back again, saying Tarek had to correct him on his German grammar: Lindemann had used the dative case when he should have used the accusative.

“Tarek says it should be ‘meinen’,” BVG wrote.

It seems though by now the Lindemann has caught on to the joke. On Monday he tweeted an article written by Bild about his exchange with BVG, and noted that “yesterday I went for a beer with Tarek” after his party made it into the Saarland state parliament.

Another BVG Twitter account told Lindemann that Tarek did not drink beer. But Lindemann insisted: “The beer tasted very good to Tarek. He is after all an AfD member.” 

And when BVG again told him that “Manni… a nickname for Osman” had been his driver on Monday, Lindemann replied that he would “gladly ride with him”.

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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