The Dalai Lama says refugees should return to their homelands.
The spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhist people says in his opinion Europeans should be the sole decider of politics in Europe.
He made his comments in Malmo, Sweden. Malmo is a city with a significant immigrant population.
The Dalai Lama went on to say that refugees should go back to where they came from and help to rebuild their respective countries.
At the same time, he pointed out Europe is morally bound to assist any refugees who genuinely fear for their lives. Sweden took in the highest number of refugees amongst all other European nations in 2015.
Anti-immigrant and right-wing populist party, Sweden Democrats, says it wants to halve the number of immigrants coming to Sweden, while 60% of the public in polls wish to see immigrant numbers lowered.
The Dalai Lama’s comments occurred soon after Sweden’s general election results which saw 18 percent of the vote going to the Sweden Democrats.
Their third-place finish in the elections follows a WU-wide trend of far-right nationalist political gains.
The Dalai Lama’s remarks upset many of his followers.
He has made similar comments in the past: in 2016 he stated that Germany had “too many refugees” during an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
In addition to demonstrating an obvious lack of understanding about the migrant crisis, the Dalai Lama shocked many of his admirers, especially considering his own status as a refugee residing in India for more than 50 years.
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