SPD mayor of Panketal appears at AfD event

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Maximilian Wonke, SPD mayor of the Panketal municipality in August 2022

Photo: Municipality of Panketal / dpa

Controversial appearance in the community of Panketal on the outskirts of Berlin: The SPD mayor Maximilian Wonke was a guest at an AfD citizens' event and thus sparked criticism.

Several media outlets, including the “Märkische Oderzeitung” and the “Bild”, reported on it.

The state SPD spoke of a disservice.

Wonke, mayor of the 21,000-resident community in the south of the Barnim district, told the dpa news agency on Monday afternoon that he wanted to show a willingness to talk to AfD supporters who would otherwise not speak to him.

"It's my attempt to see whether we are still capable of discourse." Wonke said he was never interested in cooperating with the AfD.

But as mayor he sees himself as responsible for all parts of the population.

SPD surprise guest at the AfD citizens' dialogue

The AfD had announced the mayor as a surprise guest at its citizens' dialogue with, among others, the AfD local chairman and state parliament member Steffen John.

According to Wonke, it was about local issues but also about the war in Ukraine and the consequences of the corona crisis.

He was already at an AfD event in 2019.

The party is classified as a suspected right-wing extremist case by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Brandenburg.

The general secretary of the state SPD, David Kolesnyk, announced on Monday: “There is no cooperation with the AfD.

There was no one for or on behalf of the SPD at the AfD event." The fact that the AfD is now using the event "to normalize and cover up their increasingly anti-constitutional plans" clearly shows that, despite noble goals, the cause has been done a disservice be.

CDU general secretary Gordon Hoffmann said that the SPD, especially its general secretary Kevin Kühnert, never misses an opportunity to accuse other parties of being close to the AfD and to hand out attitude scores: "I'm curious to see whether he meets his own standards in this incident in Panketal “The SPD, CDU and Greens govern in a coalition in Brandenburg.

The mayor of Panketal said he would not take part in an AfD event again.

The AfD is increasingly drifting towards extremism, he criticized.

The corona pandemic has also allowed conspiracy myths to grow among supporters.

Wonke announced that he now wanted to contact other civil society actors and was considering a joint demonstration against the right.

kfr/dpa