MORE than half of Germans fear the rise of Islam in their country, a shock survey has revealed.
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The results hint at a dramatic changing attitude of the nation’s population towards the religion over the past year, which has seen the arrival of more than one million migrants.
A new poll published by a leading Christian organisation reveals 57 per cent of Germans fear the Islamisation of their country - with more women (61 per cent), fearing it than men (51 per cent).
Churchgoers and non-religious people were equally afraid.
While the young were the least fearful, with just a third of 18 to 24-year-old’s scared of Germany becoming more Islamic.
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AfD has made strides in the German elections
But nearly two-thirds of those aged over 45 were concerned about the rise of the religion.
The shocking results also revealed nearly six out of ten Germans feared migrants could bring crime and terrorism Germany. Jewish voters were particularly worried about this, with more than nine out of ten of saying they scared.
The results come amid an increasingly fractious debate over radical Islamism in Germany, sparked by Angela Merkel’s ill-fated open door refugee policy.
This has pushed voters into the embrace of right-wingers like the anti-immigrant AfD party which scored big in this month’s regional elections and which now threatens Mrs Merkel's CDU conservatives at the General Election.
Germans appear to be punishing the Chancellor's accommodating refugee policy.
Shocking opinion polls delivered a crushing blow to Mrs Merkel after she took a battering in her home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania when her party was pushed into third place by the anti-immigrant AfD.
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More than 1.1m migrants entered Germany last year, with most coming from Middle Eastern and North African countries.
But Mrs Merkel's grip on power is growing ever weaker, with rebellion across the country against her controversial immigration policies.
Recently the German leader admitted she regrets opening her country's doors to a stream of refugees.
Following a devastating defeat in the Berlin state elections earlier this week, she said: ”If I could, I would turn back the time by many, many years.
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Meanwhile, another shock survey shows xenophobia is rising in the ex-communist east of Germany, while far-right violence and attacks against migrants rose dramatically last year.
Germany recorded 1,408 violent acts carried out by far-right supporters last year, a rise of more than 42 per cent from 2014, and 75 arson attacks on refugee shelters, up from five a year earlier.
Iris Gleicke, the federal government's commissioner for eastern German affairs, added: "Right-wing extremism in all its forms poses a very serious threat for the social and economic development of the new states.”
