Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partners demanded the removal of Germany's domestic intelligence chief on Thursday following much-criticized comments about recent far-right protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz. The center-left Social Democrats, the junior governing party, called for him to go after Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told parliament Maassen still has his confidence. Maassen told Seehofer, his immediate boss, about his doubts before going public but didn't inform the chancellery. "He explained comprehensively, and from my point of view convincingly, the way he acted," Seehofer told lawmakers. But the Social Democrats, who are struggling in polls, said Seehofer's decision to keep Maassen in place couldn't be the last word.

Source: ABC News September 13, 2018 08:21 UTC