Palestinian
girl Reem Sahwil, whose story moved Chancellor Merkel to stroke her cheek in a
discussion forum, has had her residency permit extended. Her family can now
remain in Germany at least until March 2016.
Deutsche Welle, 5 Sep 2015
The mayor's
office in the northern city of Rostock announced that the refugee girl and her
father had received a limited residency permit until March 2016. The office
could not immediately clarify what would happen after that date but said that
the rest of the family would not be deported so that they could remain
together.
Rostock's
city Finance and Administration Senator Chris Müller said that he was pleased
that the city had "provided some promising prospects within the framework
of the legal guidelines."
He added
that Reem was a good example "of successful integration in our Hanseatic
city."
'Merkel
strokes'
Merkel was
criticized in July after she told Reem during a televised discussion forum that
Germany could not admit everyone who wanted to live there.
Merkel then
put an arm round Reem and stroked her cheek when the girl started crying. The
video clip of the exchange went viral, starting the hashtag #merkelstreichelt
("Merkel strokes"), with Merkel's critics accusing her of looking
clumsy and lacking empathy.
Reem, a
Palestinian refugee from Lebanon who has lived in Germany for four years, had
told Merkel in fluent German that wanted to study at a German university, but
that she didn't know whether she would be allowed to stay.
Refugee
crisis
Merkel, who
was criticized for being slow to condemn neo-Nazi violence against refugees in
the eastern German town Heidenau last month, saw her approval ratings slip by 4
points to 63 percent.
A record
104,460 asylum seekers entered the country in August alone, and Germany expects
about 800,000 people to file for asylum this year - four times the number of
last year. Germany is the EU's biggest recipient of people fleeing war in the
Middle East, as well as a growing number of economic migrants from southeastern
Europe.
ss/bk (Reuters, AFP)
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