COMMENTS BY THE German head of government have been misreported online, including by an Irish anti-immigration activist with a large online following.

“The Syrian president and the German leader met up, and they decided — they said ‘let’s send them all back’. 800,000 roughly,” social media personality Michael McCarthy said in a 30 March video that was viewed more than 130,000 times on Facebook and garnered more than 16,000 likes on Instagram.

Michael McCarthy, who is known for spreading misinformation, particularly about immigration, has more than a million followers on Instagram, and hundreds of thousands more on Facebook and X, where he links to a Paypal account for donations.

McCarthy appears to be referring to comments that were given shortly after a meeting between the German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa on 30 March.

Although the comments did mention sending people back to Syria, it was a far cry from Merz saying Germany was going to send all Syrians in Germany back to Syria.

Instead, Merz mentioned “a small group” of Syrians who had committed crimes who he wanted urgently repatriated to Syria. His remarks about the general Syrian population in Germany were very different.

The German state-funded news service Deutsche Welle (DW) gives the following translation.

“In the longer run, over the next three years, it is President Al-Sharaa’s wish that around 80 percent of the Syrians currently residing in Germany return to their home country.

“It is in our interest that those who live here and wish to stay and are well integrated — President Al-Sharaa also talked about doctors and nursing staff working in our hospitals — that these people by all means also remain in Germany.

“But many people are also needed back home.”

Merz had made it clear that he thought some Syrians should stay in Germany. And except for the “small group” of lawbreakers, he did not say he wished any other Syrians would leave, nor that he would “send them all back”.

Following confusion over the statement, Merz insisted that he had been describing the wish of the Syrian president, not necessarily his own plans, DW reported.

However, al-Sharaa has also since said that it was Merz’s comment, not his own.

How or by whom the sentiment originated is unclear. In either case, Merz had attributed it as Al-Sharaa’s wish in his original statement, and was explicit that he did not wish for all Syrians to leave Germany.

The “them all back” comments attributed to them are misleading and inaccurate.

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