German Chancellor Friedrich Merz labelled the far-right AfD's demand for mass "remigration" a form of "ethnic cleansing by skin colour and origin" in a heated parliamentary exchange Wednesday.

Berlin (AFP) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz labelled the far-right AfD’s demand for mass “remigration” a form of “ethnic cleansing by skin colour and origin” in a heated parliamentary exchange Wednesday.

Three days after the AfD scored a crushing election victory over his centre-right CDU in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, Merz and AfD co-leader Alice Weidel sharply attacked each other in the assembly.

Merz took aim at the Alternative for Germany party’s demand for mass deportations of rejected asylum seekers and people arriving via irregular channels.

“The word ‘remigration’ is nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing,” Merz said about the AfD’s flagship policy.

“Remigration is nothing other than ethnic cleansing by skin colour and origin,” he added to howls of protest from AfD deputies in the Bundestag.

The AfD took almost 44 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election, against 17 percent for the CDU.

The AfD, which fell three seats short of an absolute majority, said it was now in talks with other groups and MPs in an effort to form a state government.

The rise of the AfD has unnerved many who feel Germany has a special responsibility to atone for its Nazi past.

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