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Logo of the AfD and German flag at the state party convention in Greding
Photo: Daniel Löb / dpa
The AfD in Bavaria is coming into the focus of the security authorities because of a celebration on the sidelines of the state party congress in Greding. As reported by BR, among others, the state security is investigating a party on Sunday night, at which racist slogans are said to have been sung.
There was an initial suspicion of "inciting the people," the police said. The police have indications that the persons were participants in the event," it said, referring to the party congress.
Specifically, according to the police, around 3 a.m. on Sunday in a discotheque in Greding, a group of 30 people chanted the slogan "Germany to the Germans, foreigners out" to the tune of the party hit "L'Amour toujours," as a video shows. This racist variation of the song has been circulating on social media for quite some time.
As the BR reports, citing eyewitnesses, people of the group had stood in a circle in the disco. They are said to have been recognizable as AfD delegates by blue wristbands.
AfD members are said to have danced with Identitarians
In a video of the incident, it can also be seen that the group also included a member of the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement (IB) and two Bavarian AfD functionaries. The AfD people were the members of the state parliament Benjamin Nolte and Franz Schmid. Schmid had been elected to the party's state executive committee at the party congress at the weekend.
According to the station, the local operator intervened and stopped the singing. The alleged AfD members are said to have left the disco shortly afterwards.
The AfD man Schmid does not comment on the allegations even on multiple requests from BR. Nolte referred to the reports that the disco operators had stopped the singing. He himself therefore did not have to intervene, he told the broadcaster. "It has not yet been proven that an AfD member took part in this celebration on the sidelines of the AfD party conference," said the Bavarian AfD state chairman Stephan Protschka to the dpa news agency about the incident.
Söder urges scrutiny by authorities – but opposes party ban
In connection with the disco incident, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) called for the incidents with AfD members and statements by elected officials to be closely monitored and collected. "We have more and more indications that the AfD is anti-constitutional," Söder said. The authorities would have to monitor and clarify this in the coming months. However, he rejected a ban on the party. This entails too high a risk.
fek/dpa