Thousands of people participated today in a manifestation in Potsdam against the extreme right, among them the German chancellor, Olaf Scholzand the head of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, both residents of that city neighboring Berlin. The march was called by the mayor of that city, the social democrat Mike Schubert, in response to revelations about a meeting between prominent representatives of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), German and Austrian neo-Nazi groups, as well as some businessmen. At the meeting, held in a village in Potsdam, it was proposed to expel some two million foreigners or people of immigrant origin, including those who have already adopted German nationality, but are considered “not integrated” into their society.
The mayor of Potsdam spoke of about 10,000 participants, while another similar rally took place in Berlin with about 25,000 attendees, according to information from regional public television RBB.
The Potsdam rally was attended by both social democratic leaders, Scholz’s party, and the Greens, Minister Baerbock’s party, as well as the Left and the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The one in Berlin had a wide representation of both these parties and the environmental activists of Fridays for Future and took place in front of the emblematic Brandenburg Gate.
A mass expulsion plan that compromises the AfD
The investigative media ‘Correctiv’ revealed last Wednesday that AfD politicians participated in Potsdam in November in a meeting organized by influential far-right figures in which plans to expel millions of foreigners from the country were discussed.
According to various sources, the Austrian was at the center of the event. Martin Sellner, considered one of the leaders of the far-right Identitarian Movementwhich presented a “master plan” to achieve what certain extremist factions call “remigration”, that is, the ethnic cleansing of the nation from foreign elements.
The presence of at least two former AfD deputies was also revealed. One of them is Roland Hartwig, advisor to the party leader Alice Weidel. The weekly “Die Zeit” has also assured that the other president of the AfD attended another previous meeting with similar objectives, Timo Chrupalla, who shares the collegiate leadership of the party with Weidel.
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The revelations have triggered proposals to call for the AfD to be banned. This path is considered, however, complex, since in Germany only two initiatives to ban parties with structures throughout the country have so far succeeded, both in the 1950s. Successive requests supported by the government and Parliament against the National Democratic Party (NPD) were rejected by the Constitutional Court, the only body empowered to resolve these issues. First, he rejected a procedure because it was based on testimonies from “confidants” infiltrated by the secret services. Finally, in 2017 he rejected another proposal on the grounds that the NPD, despite pursuing anti-constitutional objectives, was not capable of carrying them out given its marginality and lack of parliamentary weight.
The situation is very different for the AfD, with seats in both the federal parliament (Bundestag) and in 14 of the 16 federal states. It also occupies second place in voting intention nationally and even first in the east of the country, where regional elections will be held next September.