On 15 July 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel held a citizens’ dialogue with school pupils in Rostock. One of them was Reem, a girl whose family had come from Lebanon. She told the chancellor that her family had lived in Germany for four years and that she did not know whether they could stay. Merkel answered with the rules of asylum policy. Germany could not take in everyone. Das ist manchmal auch hart, Politik, she said. That is sometimes hard, politics. Reem began to cry. Merkel stopped, walked over and stroked her. Ich weiß, dass das eine belastende Situation ist – aber trotzdem möchte ich sie einmal streicheln. I know this is a difficult situation, but I would still like to stroke her. Under the hashtag #merkelstreichelt, her reaction was heavily criticized online.
The tears did not change the answer.