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The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party called for mass expulsions of immigrants as the party launched its program for next month’s national elections.
In a fiery speech to supporters in the small town of Riesa in Saxony, East Germany, Alice Weidel said that under the AfD – which comes second in the polls with a record vote share of around 20 percent – Germany would experience “repatriations at a faster rate”. on a large scale.
Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for chancellor in the elections, used the controversial term “remigration” to describe this policy.
The word was coined by Austrian right-wing ideologue Martin Sellner, who defines “remigration” as the forced removal of immigrants who break the law or “refuse to integrate”, regardless of their citizenship status – an idea which, according to critics, amounts to ethnic cleansing.
On Saturday, Weidel said: “I have to tell you in all honesty: If it’s called remigration, then it’s called remigration. »
She was greeted with loud applause from party delegates who also repeatedly shouted “Alice für Deutschland” – a play on the banned Nazi-era slogan “Alles für Deutschland,” meaning “all for Germany.
Weidel, a former Goldman Sachs analyst, is positioning herself as the most presentable face of a party that includes ultraradicals classified as right-wing extremists by Germany’s domestic intelligence services.
Earlier this week, during a joint appearance on dominant political force.
However, he is unlikely to come to power in the next election, as all other major German parties have ruled out forming a coalition with him.
Weidel’s embrace of remigration was seen by some party members as a nod to Björn Höcke, the standard-bearer of the radical right who led the AfD to a historic first place in regional elections in the Land of Thuringia, East Germany, in September.
“This is a concession to Björn Höcke,” said Kay Gottschalk, a member of the German Bundestag who belongs to the more moderate wing of the party. “It’s a word, of course. I would put it another way – by dismissing them – but that is what the delegates want.
Weidel also used his speech to reiterate his call for the reactivation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany, the restoration of nuclear energy and the denunciation of gender studies programs.
The party rally sparked large-scale protests. About 10,000 anti-AfD protesters showed up and police placed Riesa, a town of 30,000, under lockdown, delaying the start of the conference by two hours.
