‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Tensions Escalate in Germany
The AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt has shaken Germany. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel accused the government of allowing mass migration to continue and called for the deportation of asylum seekers whom she described as coming largely from “Muslim traditional cultures.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz, meanwhile, said the AfD’s concept of “remigration” amounted to “ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin color.”
Tensions escalated during the first plenary session of the Bundestag following the AfD’s election victory in Saxony-Anhalt.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and AfD co-leader Alice Weidel engaged in a heated verbal exchange, directly attacking each other over migration and the political consequences of the election result.
Weidel accused Merz of concealing the reality of the migration situation despite his claim that the irregular migration crisis was under control. She argued that mass migration to Germany was continuing and claimed that some people whose asylum applications had been rejected had still not been deported.
“What are these people still doing in this country? They need to be deported,” Weidel said.
She also accused the Merz government of failing to understand the message German voters had sought to send through the Saxony-Anhalt election, telling the chancellor that “your time is up” and that voters wanted political change that the AfD would deliver.
Taking the podium after Weidel, Chancellor Friedrich Merz responded:
“Nowhere in Germany will you win a majority with this policy. You, Ms. Weidel, are and will remain a destructive force.”
Merz also strongly criticized the AfD’s concept of “remigration,” which has become a central and highly contested element of the party’s migration policy. The AfD advocates increased deportations and a “remigration offensive,” although the term is not defined in a single, unambiguous way in its program.
Referring to the policy, Merz said:
“The word ‘remigration’ is nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin color.”
He argued that if workers with foreign passports were forced to leave Germany under such a policy, essential sectors would be severely affected, saying that nursing homes, hospitals, restaurants and skilled trades would no longer be able to function as they currently do.
Political tensions in Germany have continued to intensify following the AfD’s record result in Saxony-Anhalt, where the party won 43.8% of the vote in the September 6 state election.
Source: DW / DA, SÖ
