Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have utterly failed, Chancellor Angela Merkel says

In a speech in Potsdam, she said the multikulti concept - where people would live side-by-side happily - did not work. Merkel's comments come amid recent outpourings of strong anti-immigrant feeling from mainstream politicians. A recent survey showed that more than 30% of Germans believed Germany was overrun by foreigners. The study - by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank - also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany's immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for the social benefits. Merkel stressed that immigrants living in Germany needed to do more to integrate, including learning to speak German. Merkel has joined the increasingly hot debate on multiculturalism, coming down on the side of those who are uneasy about immigration. Previously, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, CSU, said about integration that it was obvious that immigrants from different cultures like Turkey and Arab countries, all in all, find it harder. In August 2010, Thilo Sarrazin, a senior official at Germany's central bank, said that no immigrant group other than Muslims is so strongly connected with claims on the welfare state and crime. Such recent strong anti-immigrant feelings from mainstream politicians come amid an anger in Germany about high unemployment.