German far-right party slammed over report of extremist meeting

General view of the plenary chamber in the Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, January 18, 2024 | AP

BERLIN – Germany’s governing parties have condemned a resurgent far-right opposition group over a report that extremists recently met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship.

Last week, the media outlet, Correctiv, reported on the alleged far-right meeting in November, which it said was attended by figures from the racist Identitarian Movement and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Prominent member of the Identitarian Movement, Austrian citizen Martin Sellner, presented his “remigration” vision for deportations, according to Correctiv.

National polls currently show AfD in second place, with over 20 percent support — behind the mainstream opposition right-wing bloc but ahead of the parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left governing coalition.

AfD has sought to distance itself from the meeting, saying that it had no organizational or financial links to the event.

Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of Scholz’s Social Democrats, told AfD legislators in parliament: “You are a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but I’m telling you that your facade is beginning to crumble.”

There have been repeated demonstrations against the far right in German cities in recent days, including one in Cologne on Tuesday that attracted tens of thousands of people.

AfD chief whip, Bernd Baumann, claimed: “Little private debating clubs are being blown up into secret meetings that are a danger to the public.

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Morning Star

Morning Star is the socialist daily newspaper published in Great Britain. Morning Star es el diario socialista publicado en Gran Bretaña.