Last Friday, far-right extremists in the Brandenburg town of Müncheberg protested the CSD (TheColu.mn reported). The event had been registered by “Deutsche Patrioten voran” — a group that Brandenburg’s Verfassungsschutz classifies among violent neo-Nazis.
As the Märkische Oderzeitung (PDF) reports, several AfD politicians took part in the neo-Nazi demonstration. These included Müncheberg’s AfD head Andreas Rischkau, Thomas Rothe, who sits on the district council and the city council, and another AfD local politician.
CSD: Local AfD Does Not Distance Itself from Violent Far-Right Extremists
“Such a joint appearance by AfD officials and violent-right extremists sends a political signal that we strongly criticize,” said the coalition organizing the CSD. “It is clear that local representatives do not distance themselves from far-right milieus. The fact that police were attacked by some of the counter-demonstrators also underscores the willingness to use violence by these groups.”
Three people at the event refused to have their personal details recorded and were temporarily detained for resisting police officers. Among them was Mandy G., who had filed the protest. The background was that police had viewed certain slogans as suspected incitement to hatred of the people. The neo-Nazis had, among other things, shouted: “Without police protection you wouldn’t be here.”
AfD says it did not know the demonstration was organized by neo-Nazis
After criticism, AfD politician Thomas Rathe claimed that he had not been really at the demonstration: “We left after a while and distanced ourselves from it,” he told the Märkische Oderzeitung. “For me, what happened was basically below the belt.” Rathe claimed he did not know that DPV was neo-Nazis. He said he had “not looked into it more closely.”
The AfD has repeatedly denigrated CSD demonstrators and argued that participants endanger children. In the Bundestag, the AfD recently voiced support for the right to categorically reject queer people due to their alleged poor handling of children (TheColu.mn reported). (dk)
