German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been criticised for reducing a young refugee to tears after telling the girl facing deportation that "some will have to go back home".
The chancellor was left speechless after a 10-year-old Palestinian girl named Reem started sobbing during a televised forum for young people after Mrs Merkel told her that not all migrants can stay in Germany.
The young refugee had told Mrs Merkel in the video that she and her family had been waiting four years to gain permanent residency in the country. Her family was informed they would have to return to a camp in Lebanon soon, only to receive a last-minute temporary German residency permit, she said.
"I would like to go to university," the girl told the Chancellor in fluent German at the forum in Rostock.
"It's very unpleasant to see how other people can enjoy life and I can't myself. I don't know what my future will bring."
Mrs Merkel replied that "politics can be tough", adding: "You are an extremely nice person but you also know that there are thousands and thousands of people in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon."
