Update
AfD leader Chrupalla in the clinic
The police are investigating an incident at an election campaign appearance
October 4, 2023, 10:38 p.m
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Top AfD politicians are at the center of two still-unexplained incidents: At an election campaign event in Bavaria, boss Chrupalla is taken to the hospital. The police are investigating. However, according to police, there is no evidence of an attack. On Tuesday, co-boss Weidel canceled an appearance – allegedly for security reasons.
AfD federal chairman Tino Chrupalla was hospitalized during an election campaign event in Ingolstadt. As the police said, he had to receive medical treatment behind the stage in the afternoon before a speech began in the theater square and was then taken to the hospital. No obvious injury was apparent at this point. “In order to clarify the detailed circumstances of this medical incident, further investigations were carried out by the Ingolstadt Criminal Police Inspectorate,” the statement continued.
A police spokesman said police wanted to investigate whether third parties could be responsible for the incident. But there is no evidence of an attack. That is the current status of the investigation. The AfD federal office had spoken of an “assault incident” against Chrupalla. Police asked visitors who took photos or videos around the event to make them available to investigators. A spokesman for the Bavarian AfD parliamentary group said that an incident occurred in a crowd shortly before his speech. The “Donaukurier” and “Junge Freiheit” had previously reported on it.
In Bavaria, the state parliament will be elected on Sunday. The 48-year-old Saxon Chrupalla has been at the head of the AfD for almost four years. He initially led the party together with Jörg Meuthen, who left the AfD at the beginning of 2022. Chrupalla and Alice Weidel have been the party’s leadership duo since June 2022. You are also chairwoman of the AfD parliamentary group.
Weidel had forgone a planned public appearance in the Bavarian-Thuringian border town of Mödlareuth on Tuesday, German Unity Day. A spokesman said there had been a “security-related incident” the weekend before last. “Mrs Weidel and her family were taken from their private apartment to a safe place by security authorities because there had been increasing evidence that pointed to an attack on her family,” he said when asked. A spokesman for the Schwyz police in central Switzerland confirmed to broadcaster SRF today that a police operation in this matter would take place on September 23rd. He did not want to say anything about the nature of the operation. Today it was announced that Weidel is currently in Mallorca. Her spokesman Daniel Tapp confirmed a “Spiegel” report that Weidel was seen in a beach restaurant on Tuesday, German Unity Day, in a town on the east coast of Mallorca, together with her partner. “After the event on September 23rd, which was very upsetting for the entire family, she and her partner and children followed the recommendation to stay away from their home environment for some time, which was a suspected target of the attack,” said Tapp.
At the event in Mödlareuth, a speaker claimed that Weidel was in a so-called safe house and was not allowed to leave it at the moment. According to her spokesman, this is not correct. When asked how the stay in Mallorca fit in with an impression that might have arisen from the video message that there was currently a threat to Weidel on German Unity Day, Tapp said: “It’s probably hard to imagine what it’s like for a family if you have to leave your home under police protection.” This prompted Weidel to “spend a few days with her family in peace and relative seclusion.” Weidel has been in Mallorca since Sunday and wants to return in the next few days.