An elected official from from Bavaria, where most of the migrants joining Germany go, announced that Thursday he had sent a bus with 51 Syrian refugees on board to the chancellery in Berlin to protest against Angela Merkel’s reception policy.

“None of us can exactly predict economic developments”, she said, adding there were unknowns about the costs of integrating migrants and fighting the causes of the influx of refugees.

Germany is aiming for a balanced budget this year but there is some uncertainty about whether it can be achieved given the unpredictable costs of the refugee crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.

As 1.1 million refugees flooded into Germany previous year, the chancellor has implored European Union allies to share the burden more equitably with an EU-wide distribution system.

Guenther Burkhardt, head of German refugee support group Pro Asyl, criticised the trip, saying “people are being exploited for the sake of media footage”.

Peter Dreier, a Landshut district councilor, said he wanted to “send a sign that refugee policy can not continue like this”.

Elisabeth-Maria Bauer, a manager at a Landshut volunteer service that is responsible for coordinating local efforts to help asylum seekers, tells Newsweek, “Mr. Dreier’s act yesterday was more political show than help for refugees”.

“I think that we have to ensure the humane treatment of these refugees”, Dreier said upon his arrival in the capital, traveling on the bus with the refugees.

Dreier said “there is no end in sight to the wave of refugees, and our country s ability to house them in a dignified way is deteriorating rapidly”.

It was not immediately clear if the Syrians would stay in Berlin or return to Bavaria.

The Syrians were legally free to live anywhere in Germany but now had to find apartments, which would be tough in prosperous Landshut, the district said in its statement.

Merkel has faced both praise and criticism for opening Germany’s borders to those fleeing persecution and war.

Mass sexual assaults on women in Cologne at New Year by gangs of young men described by police as being of Arab or North African in appearance, have deepened worries.

Two weeks after the attacks, the number of criminal complaints reached 652 by Thursday, including 331 sex-related crimes, Cologne prosecutors said.

“If we don’t finally take the concerns and needs of our citizens very seriously, the social peace in our country is at risk”.