AfD embraces mass deportation of migrants as German election nears

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BERLIN — Germany's far right is in a buoyant mood.

On Saturday, while its conference was under way in the eastern city of Riesa, in Saxony, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) laid out ambitions to close Germany's borders, resume buying Russian gas and, in effect, dismantle the EU.

German media reported that the party's agreed manifesto includes plans to quit the Paris climate deal, exit the Euro currency and create a new confederation of states.

The AfD's leader, Alice Weidel, even publicly embraced the term "remigration" - a word that's widely understood to mean the mass "return" or deportation of people with a migrant background.

Thousands of anti-AfD protestors swarmed the streets in Riesa on Saturday, seeking to obstruct access to the conference venue.

When Alice Weidel eventually took to the stage, she described the activists outside as a "left-wing mob."

And, in front a delighted conference hall of delegates, spoke of "large-scale repatriations".

"And I have to be honest with you: if it's going to be called remigration, then that's what it's going to be: remigration," she said.

It's a striking departure from just a year ago when she sought to distance herself from a scandal that centered on the highly controversial concept.

There were nationwide anti-AfD demonstrations after it emerged that senior party figures had been among those at a meeting where "remigration" was allegedly discussed with Martin Sellner, an Austrian far-right activist who has a neo-Nazi past.

Sellner has written about "remigrating" asylum seekers, some foreigners with residency rights and "non-assimilated" citizens.

A buzzword in Europe's far-right, some claim legal residents wouldn't be forced to leave. Critics say "remigration" is simply a euphemism for an overtly racist mass deportation plan.

But Alice Weidel's decision to personally coin the term, weeks out from a snap federal election, demonstrates her party's growing radicalism and confidence.

She also pledged to tear down wind farms which she called "windmills of shame", leave the EU's asylum system and "throw out" gender studies professors.

The AfD is consistently polling second in Germany and made gains in recent regional elections in the country's east – where the party is strongest.

However, it's highly unlikely to win power because other parties won't work with the AfD.

Sections of the AfD have been classed by domestic intelligence as right-wing extremist.

In 2024, a talisman of the AfD's hard-right – Björn Höcke – was fined twice for using a banned Nazi SA paramilitary phrase, "Alles für Deutschland" ("everything for Germany").

He's called it an "everyday sentence" and denied being aware of its origins, despite formerly being a history teacher.

Reports that members of the conference in Riesa this weekend chanted "Alice für Deutschland" drew quick comparisons in German media.

However, AfD figures have frequently complained that they are demonised and persecuted by a biased media and establishment.

And Alice Weidel's party – of which she is the co-leader and now Chancellor candidate – has ridden out repeated storms to now hover around or even above 20% in national polls.

The 45-year-old economist, who previously worked for Goldman Sachs and is in a same-sex relationship, has sought to polish the rougher edges of her party.

But for those strongly opposed to the AfD she is a fig leaf or - as one Social Democrat put it - a "wolf in sheep's clothing".

Regardless, she's enjoying a new spotlight after being invited by tech billionaire – Elon Musk – for a live talk on his X platform last week, where he wholeheartedly endorsed the party.

Her declaration during this discussion that Adolf Hitler was, in fact, a communist sparked condemnation, given the Nazi leader's well-known anti-communism.

Critics warned of Nazi revisionism - something the AfD has been accused of before.

Björn Höcke once called for a "180-degree turnaround" in Germany's handling of its Nazi past while a former co-leader, Alexander Gauland, described the Nazi era as "just a speck of bird's muck in more than 1,000 years of successful Germany history".

Nevertheless, the AfD's anti-establishment, anti-immigration and anti-"woke" agenda is finding followers in Germany who go to the polls on 23 February. — BBC