Wednesday, December 1st, 2021
Internal chat group from Bavaria
AfD politicians are said to have spoken of “civil war”
The Bavarian AfD comes under heavy pressure because of the radical content of an internal chat group. The Telegram group has more than 250 members, including parts of the state executive. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Herrmann sees it as new arguments for monitoring the protection of the constitution.
The Bavarian AfD comes under massive pressure because of an internal chat with sometimes radical content. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann from the CSU sees the question of observing individual MPs and the party as a whole being raised anew. The Greens and the SPD called observation of the AfD indispensable.
Bayerischer Rundfunk quoted from the contents of a closed Telegram group called “Alternative News Group Bavaria” that BR reporters had been leaked. Also in the group are large parts of the parliamentary group, the Bavarian AfD parliamentary group and the state executive. “Without overthrow and revolution we can no longer change course here,” wrote an AfD district chairman, according to the BR report.
Another AfD man, who is now a member of the AfD state executive, wrote according to the BR: “Please fight (or if you will) with the large amount of money you receive for four long, more years, regardless of which party, the assassination in Germany System. That is what our voters expect. The resistance of the street would thank you. ” According to the BR report, another message said: “I think that we will not get out of this number without a civil war.”
The AfD regional association initially did not respond to inquiries. But the existence of the Telegram group was confirmed to the German press agency in AfD circles. But it was not an official group of the state executive or the state parliamentary group, it was emphasized. There are currently more than 250 members, some of them from outside the party. Almost all of the contributions in the group are reasonable in content and concern day-to-day political affairs, it said. However, hardly anyone manages to read everything.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Herrmann called the chats terrifying. “They make it clear that there are obviously people on the AfD’s governing bodies, including parliamentarians, who obviously do not rule out violence at all, who are seriously thinking about civil war and the like,” he said on the sidelines of a state parliament meeting in Munich. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution will carefully evaluate the chat when it receives the documents. The question arises to what extent the MPs concerned have to be observed – even if special requirements normally have to be met – and “to what extent additional arguments for monitoring the AfD as a whole can be derived from this”.