Bavaria Threatens Court Action Over Migrants

The state of Bavaria has threatened to take the German government to court unless it takes immediate steps to limit the flow of asylum seekers into the country.

"We have agreed that if the federal government does not take effective steps soon to limit the continued flow of asylum seekers ... Bavaria reserves the right to go to the Constitutional Court," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said after a regional cabinet meeting in Munich.

Officials stopped short of threatening to close the border with Austria, but Mr Herrmann added: "If respect of EU standards as set out in Dublin and Schengen is not restored immediately then the German government must take the decision not to turn away refugees at the border."

Governor Horst Seehofer and his conservative government have been the harshest domestic critics of Chancellor Angela Merkel's approach to the migration crisis.

In September, Ms Merkel said asylum seekers were welcome in Germany, avoiding a humanitarian crisis after Hungary tried to stop migrants from entering from Serbia.

Most of those who arrive in Germany arrive first in Bavaria.

Mr Herrmann also urged the federal government to send a signal "that Germany has reached the limits of its capacity", noting Germany is surrounded by "safe countries".

Meanwhile, a right-wing party said it plans to lodge a legal complaint against Ms Merkel, accusing her of "people smuggling" for letting thousands of migrants into the country after they got stuck on the Hungarian border.

The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) said it would make the complaint to the Berlin public prosecutor's office, hoping it will open preliminary proceedings against the chancellor.

Deputy party leader Alexander Gauland said: "Angela Merkel has operated as a smuggler".

Responding to the move, Ms Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany was governed by the rule of law and citizens were free to make legal complaints as they saw fit.

The country's interior minister has said his office has recorded more than 490 attacks - ranging from arson to racist graffiti - on refugee shelters in 2015.

Thomas de Maiziere told Berlin's Morgenpost newspaper the number represents "a massive increase of xenophobic attacks against asylum-seekers."