After a meeting of right-wing activists became known, the AfD continues to be the focus of criticism from its political rivals and thousands of demonstrators in several cities. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) told the “Tagesspiegel am Sonntag” that the meeting in Potsdam with the participation of individual AfD officials showed that the second largest opposition party in the Bundestag is not a “protest party”. As he did a few months ago, he made it clear: “The AfD is a dangerous Nazi party.”
CDU party leader Friedrich Merz said after a board meeting on Saturday in Heidelberg with a view to the upcoming elections, including in three eastern German states: “We will go into these elections with a very clear, very tough fight, especially against the AfD.”
According to the police, around 2,400 people took to the streets in Duisburg on Saturday to protest against the AfD’s New Year’s reception. The demonstrators first marched through the city and then held a rally near the AfD event hall. “Danger to our democracy” and “Shame for Germany” were written on protest posters. The police deployed strong forces to keep AfD participants and demonstrators at a distance.
Also on Saturday, around 650 people demonstrated in Düsseldorf, according to police reports, to consider banning the AfD from a party. The demonstrators marched through the city center to the NRW state parliament. Around 2,000 people demonstrated in front of the AfD party headquarters in Hamburg on Friday evening. Further demonstrations were planned for Sunday afternoon in Berlin, Potsdam and Saarbrücken, among others. In the capital, the organization “Fridays for Future” called for this under the motto “Defend Democracy”.
Research results on meetings of radical right-wing circles
Last Wednesday, the media company Correctiv published research results from a meeting of radical right-wing circles. Individual AfD officials as well as individual members of the CDU and the ultra-conservative Values Union took part in the meeting in a Potsdam villa in November.
The former head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, confirmed to the German Press Agency that he had spoken about “remigration” at the meeting. When right-wing extremists use the term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country – even under duress. According to Correctiv research, Sellner named three target groups in Potsdam: asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to remain – and “non-assimilated citizens.”
After the meeting, the debate about a possible ban on the AfD flared up again. However, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is skeptical about such a request. “I cannot judge the chances of success – a procedure would probably take a very long time,” said Steinmeier to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. At the same time, the head of state expressed concern about the increasing right-wing populism in Germany. “If we look back into history, we realize: Extremists have always been the misfortune of our country,” said Steinmeier.
Stark-Watzinger against AfD ban application
The former President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier, told the “Tagesspiegel”: “That would only play into the hands of the AfD.” The Basic Law sets high hurdles for a party ban in Article 21. Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) told the editorial network Germany (RND/Montag): “The failure of a ban application before the Constitutional Court would strengthen the AfD enormously.” CDU leader Merz also said he didn’t think much of it.
The AfD is assessed as definitely right-wing extremist in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia by the respective Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and is considered a suspected case nationwide. The party has been at a poll high for months. At the beginning of the year, the Brandenburg AfD reported an increase of around 700 party members, or almost 50 percent, for 2023. In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, the increase last year was 45 percent to 2,469 members, according to the AfD regional association there. State elections are scheduled for September in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony. The AfD is currently ahead in the polls in all three countries, in some cases significantly.
Strack-Zimmermann calls for resistance from the AfD
The FDP’s top candidate for the European elections, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, has urgently appealed to her party colleagues to raise their voice loudly against the AfD. Even if someone announces in a private, social circle that they should now vote for the AfD out of anger at the traffic lights: “Get up!” Strack-Zimmermann demanded at the New Year’s reception of the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP in Düsseldorf. “Say: This far and no further.”
The AfD became big because the bourgeois parties had not solved problems for too long, especially with migration. “If a party like the AfD becomes stronger, we have to ensure that the issues are taken away from them,” demanded Strack-Zimmermann in front of around 1,000 guests. The influx to populist parties with extremist positions must be stopped socially. “The bigger the pile of shit, the more flies sit on it,” warned the liberal.
