Instead of a campaign appearance
Threatened AfD leader Weidel is vacationing in Mallorca
October 4th, 2023, 8:30 p.m
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Evidence pointing to an attack against her caused AfD leader Weidel to cancel her participation in an election campaign appearance. Instead there is a video message. Now it is known: Meanwhile, Weidel was on the east coast of Mallorca.
After Alice Weidel had to cancel an election campaign appearance on German Unity Day yesterday due to a threat of attack, it is now known: the AfD leader was in Mallorca at the time of the event. According to “Spiegel” information, Weidel was seen with her partner on the Mallorcan east coast in a beach restaurant on the afternoon of October 3rd.
At the newspaper’s request, Weidel’s office confirmed the vacation. “It is correct, Ms. Weidel was in Mallorca with her family at the time in question,” the “Spiegel” quoted Weidel’s personal spokesman as saying. However, ten days before the canceled election campaign appearance, there was actually a security-related incident on September 23rd.
After the “very disturbing event,” the family followed the recommendation to “stay away from their home environment for some time, which was a suspected target of the attack,” the newspaper quoted its spokesman as saying. Ms. Weidel “decided to be with her family after the threatening impressions.” She “decided not to communicate her whereabouts for security reasons.” Since when Weidel had been in Mallorca, whether she is still there and since when the vacation on the Spanish holiday island was planned, Weidel’s spokesman left unanswered, according to “Spiegel”.
A spokesman for the party had previously announced that “indications had accumulated (…) that pointed to an attack on her family.” Weidel and her family were therefore taken “by security authorities from their private apartment to a safe place.” At the election event in Mödlareuth itself, an AfD representative announced that Weidel and her family had been evacuated from their private apartment and taken to a safe place. “She’s not allowed out of this safehouse, she has to stay in hiding until further notice,” he said. A video message from Weidel was then played. In it, the AfD leader says: “I would love nothing more than to be with you today, but unfortunately I can’t.”
The background to the incident is currently not exactly known. When asked by “Spiegel”, the police in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, where Weidel and her family live, only confirmed a “police operation” on “Saturday, September 23, 2023”. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which is responsible for the personal protection of politicians, said that the cancellation of Weidel’s participation in the event on Tuesday was “not at the instigation or recommendation of the BKA.” In addition, the authority “cannot provide any information about tactical measures or dangers.”