Saxon AfD wants to throw MPs out

Flag with AfD logo: Roland Ulbrich has previously caused outrage

Photo:

Daniel Karmann / DPA

The AfD in Saxony did not immediately announce on Monday what exactly happened - only this much: The state association wants to exclude state parliament member Roland Ulbrich from the party and parliamentary group. In coordination with the AfD federal executive board, a party exclusion procedure has been requested, as a parliamentary group spokesman in Dresden announced. At the next parliamentary group meeting on Wednesday, a vote should also be taken on his exclusion from the state parliamentary group.

The general secretary of the Saxon AfD and parliamentary managing director of the state parliamentary group, Jan Zwerg, also did not provide any details. Ulbrich had “seriously violated party principles.” “The AfD stands firmly on the basis of the free-democratic basic order,” explained Zwerg. "Anyone who makes extremist statements - regardless of whether they are right-wing or left-wing extremists - is doing massive damage to the AfD."

Several media outlets reported that Ulbrich, as a member of the party's Federal Arbitration Board, had used a law from before the founding of the Federal Republic as evidence in making an arbitration award. In response to an inquiry from MDR, the Federal Executive Board said that Ulbrich had "referred to a law passed in the 1930s in the reasons for his judgment." “However, this has not been in force for several decades.”

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD in Saxony as definitely right-wing extremist. According to the spokesman, Ulbrich's intended exclusion from the party has nothing to do with a meeting in Potsdam. The Correctiv network reported on a right-wing extremist secret meeting in Potsdam, at which AfD politicians are said to have discussed the expulsion of millions of people with an immigration background.

Outrage over comments after synagogue attack

Ulbrich's earlier statements were also not decisive. In 2019, he caused outrage with comments about the attack on the synagogue in Halle (on the Saale). A day after the attack, he wrote on a social network: "What's worse, a damaged synagogue door or two Germans killed?"

On October 9, 2019, the right-wing extremist Stephan B. tried to storm the synagogue in Halle (on the Saale) and shoot the assembled community members on the highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. The attack failed because the synagogue door was secured and the self-made weapons jammed. He then shot two people in the city. B. was sentenced to life imprisonment followed by preventive detention.

sol/AFP