The political party that made gains in regional polls is defended by its leaders while labelled ‘right-wing extremist’ by Germany’s security services.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party has said it will throw out three of its members who have been arrested on suspicion of having joined an “extremist” paramilitary group.
The political party’s announcement comes after eight people were arrested and at least 20 properties were searched during a police operation on Tuesday.
The operation targeted the Saxonian Separatists, a group authorities consider a domestic “terrorist organisation”. It was founded in November 2020 and is driven by racist ideology and conspiracy theories.
Members had been training in warfare for the downfall of the modern German state before hundreds of police swooped on locations linked to it in eastern Germany, neighbouring Poland, and also in Austria.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday that the police operations had thwarted “early stage militant coup plans” and investigators noted that the group was planning to establish a new system in the country’s east inspired by Nazism.
Der Spiegel magazine reported on Wednesday that Tuesday’s police raids had also uncovered unregistered weapons, munitions – including Kalashnikov cartridges – and silencers, as well as the shell of a mortar grenade.
The AfD leadership in the eastern state of Saxony confirmed the exclusion of three party members and partially named them in a statement as Kurt H, Hans-Georg P and Kevin R.
A statement from the party said: “No matter on whose behalf the Saxonian Separatists have been operating, there is no place for them in our party of freedom, peace and national sovereignty.”
AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla added that an extraordinary meeting of the party leadership would be held on Wednesday with the sole purpose of excluding the three men.
In Germany, political parties need to demonstrate a serious violation in order to expel a member.
Weidel and Chrupalla said that the AfD stands for “the liberal democratic order and has nothing to do with this suspected neo-Nazi grouping”.
Meanwhile, the party’s leader in Saxony, Joerg Urban, said the AfD “rejects any form of violence in political debate” and that “preparations for violent acts or coups are also unacceptable”.
In September, the anti-immigrant AfD won regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia, a first for a far-right party since World War II. It also performed strongly in neighbouring Saxony.
But German security services have labelled the party’s local branches in Thuringia and Saxony as “right-wing extremist” and its leader Bjorn Hocke has been fined twice for using Nazi slogans.