Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) plans to expel three party members suspected of belonging to a neo-Nazi group, the party leader of the eastern state of Saxony said on Wednesday.
Jörg Urban said: “The AfD rejects any form of violence in political debate. Even preparations for possible acts of violence or uprising are unacceptable.”
The party said the executive committee’s decision to expel the party members was unanimous but still needs to be decided by the state arbitration court.
National party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said in a statement they supported the expulsion.
The decision came after an AfD member, along with seven other German nationals, was arrested in Saxony and Poland on Tuesday for suspected membership of a militant group called the ‘Saxon Separatists’.
The German federal prosecutor’s office described the group as a militant organization of 15 to 20 individuals who hoped to “establish a state and society based on National Socialism” in East Germany.
Its members, prosecutors say, share a profound rejection of Germany’s free and democratic constitutional order, and of an ideology characterized by racist, anti-Semitic and apocalyptic beliefs.
The group is reportedly convinced that Germany is on the brink of a “collapse,” after which the organization plans to take control of areas in Saxony and possibly other East German states by force.
Prosecutors said the group’s plan calls for “unwanted groups of people to be removed from the area through ethnic cleansing if necessary.”
The AfD member who was arrested is a local politician for the party. According to security sources, he suffered a jaw injury during his arrest.
The man allegedly appeared before police officers during the raid with a long gun, prompting police to fire two warning shots.
According to DPA data, he is a hunter and, like one of the other detainees, he has a firearms permit. Unregistered weapons and ammunition were also reportedly found during raids on Tuesday.
An investigating judge issued a pre-trial detention order against six of the suspects on Tuesday evening, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office in the western city of Karlsruhe said.
It was initially unclear when the other two suspects would be brought to trial.
The AfD members concerned should be immediately barred from exercising their rights as party members until the arbitral tribunal makes a decision.
