Chancellor Merkel says German bid at multi-cultural society has failed

"Multikulti", the concept that "we are now living side by side and are happy about it," does not work, Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam near Berlin.

"This approach has failed, totally," she said.

Jewish leaders in Germany meanwhile warned that German society and democracy were under threat from extremists.

A recent expert study should prompt the government to act against antidemocratic ideas, the secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer, told the Rheinpfalz am Sonntag weekly.

The study, by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think tank, showed that 34.3 per cent of those surveyed believed Germany's 16 million immigrants or people with foreign origins came to the country for the social benefits.

35.6 per cent think Germany is being "over-run by foreigners" and more than one in 10 called for a "Fuehrer" to run the country "with a strong hand".

Thirty-two percent of people said they agreed with the statement: "Foreigners should be sent home when jobs are scarce."

58.4 percent of the 2,411 people polled thought the around four million Muslims in Germany should have their religious practices "significantly curbed." LINK