“While most Germans welcomed the refugees, -————
Sure they do !
.
Germans were remarkably naive on this topic about a year ago. They have changed their minds now, but it is wrong to say the public opinion wasn’t behind this damaging course then.
http://www.dw.com/en/survey-shows-half-of-all-germans-favor-taking-in-more-refugees/a-18405458
“The opinion poll conducted for ARD public television and released on Friday found that 50 percent of the Germans questioned were in favor of the country accepting more refugees. Forty-four percent of those asked in the survey, conducted by the Infratest dimap polling company, said they were opposed to the idea.”
“Sixty-two percent said they favored injecting increased funds to deploy more rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea, while 34 percent opposed the idea.”
“Around two-thirds of Germans (63 percent), said they opposed the idea of setting up blockades at sea for ships carrying would-be migrants, as the Australian authorities have done, while 32 percent thought this was a prudent course of action.”
IMHO the sea blockade is the key issue here as this would have been an effective way to stop the inflow.