Thousands of people attended today manifestation In Potsdam, against the far right, including the German chancellor, Olaf Scholzand the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, both residents of the city neighboring Berlin. The march was called by that city’s mayor, social democrat Mike Schubert, in response to reports of a meeting between the far-right Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) and leading representatives of German and Austrian neo-Nazi groups. like some businessmen. At a meeting in a village in Potsdam, it was proposed to deport around two million people of foreign or immigrant origin, including those who had adopted German citizenship but were deemed “not integrated” into their society.
While the mayor of Potsdam spoke of around 10,000 participants, a similar rally was held in Berlin with around 25,000 participants, according to regional public broadcaster RBB.
The Potsdam rally was attended by social democratic leaders Scholz’s party and Minister Baerbock’s party, the Greens, as well as the Left and the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The event in Berlin took place in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate, with a broad representation of environmental activists from both these parties and Fridays for Future.
Mass deportation plan puts AfD in danger
Investigative media ‘Correctiv’ revealed last Wednesday that AfD politicians attended a meeting of influential far-right figures in Potsdam in November, where plans to deport millions of foreigners from the country were discussed.
According to various sources, the Austrian was at the center of the incident. Martin Sellner, considered one of the leaders of the far-right Identitarian Movementoffering a “master plan” to achieve what some extremist groups call a “comeback,” i.e. ethnic cleansing nation from foreign elements
The existence of at least two former AfD MPs was also revealed. One of them is Roland Hartwig, advisor to the party leader. Alice Weidel. The weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” also assured that the other head of the AfD had previously attended another meeting with similar purposes: Timo Chrupalla, who shares the university leadership of the party with Weidel.
These revelations triggered calls to ban the AfD. But this path is thought to be complicated, as only two attempts to ban parties with nationwide structures were successful in Germany, both in the 1950s. Rejection of the National Democratic Party (NPD) by the Constitutional Court, It is the only body authorized to solve these problems. First, he rejected a procedure because it was based on the statements of “confidants” infiltrated by the secret services. Finally, in 2017, he rejected another proposal on the grounds that although the NPD pursued unconstitutional goals, it did not have the capacity to realize them due to its marginality and lack of parliamentary weight.
The situation is very different for the AfD, which has seats in both the federal parliament (Bundestag) and 14 of the 16 federal states. It also ranks second nationally in voting intention and even first in the east of the country, where regional elections will be held next September.