Harsh words were exchanged in the German parliament amid calls from various leftist politicians to ban the country’s most successful populist party.
Leftists in Germany are now openly calling for the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party to be outright banned over alleged links to the so-called “Reichsbürger” movement in the country which questions the legitimacy of the current German state.
Many legacy politicians and activists have been especially keen to link those in the party to the movement amid claims that the country’s police recently unearthed an attempt by a number of Reichsbürger adherents to violently overthrow the country’s government.
However, the AfD has openly ridiculed the connection, mocking the alleged revolutionary plot as an “operetta coup” made up of little more than a bunch of old-age pensioners.
Speaking in the German parliament on Wednesday, Sebastian Hartmann of the ruling Social Democratic Party lashed out at the AfD, accusing them of playing down “right-wing terror”.
“There is no tolerance for the enemies of the republic!” the SPD spokesman shouted.
Other politicians in the country are now expressly calling for the party to be banned, with Taz reporting Georg Maier — a senior member of the SPD in the state of Thuringia — saying that the party is “clearly anti-constitutional”, accusing it of “trying to do away with our free and democratic basic order”.
However, despite a raft of leftists now outright calling for their political party to be banned, those within the AfD have belittled the claims made against them, and have openly mocked the suggestion that Germany was ever in danger of being overthrown by people within the “Reichsbürger” movement.
Speaking in the German parliament, AfD domestic affairs spokesman Dr. Gottfried Curio mocked the claim that the alleged coup attempt ever posed a real threat to Germany, describing it as instead being an “operetta putsch” being orchestrated by a gang of Zimmer frame-using “pensioners”.
Curio is not the only one who has questioned the seriousness of the coup attempt, with other sources having also cast doubt as to how realistic a threat the supposed putsch actually was.
According to government documents reportedly seen by local publication Junge Freiheit, the individuals alleged to be involved in plotting the coup attempt had aimed to set up hundreds of “homeland security companies” for the purpose of overthrowing the German state. Yet just eight people were said to be willing to help them overthrow the state.
Meanwhile, the AfD has pointed out that calls for its banning has had little impact on the views of the general public, with Curio noting that outrage from leftists in the country had not affected the party’s polling.
What’s more, survey results indicate that the party remains the single largest political force in Thuringia, despite efforts from local politician Maier to see the party declared illegal.