Lower Saxony: Public prosecutor's office is investigating AfD MPs

DThe Hanover public prosecutor's office is investigating AfD MP Marcel Queckemeyer after a scandal in the Lower Saxony state parliament. It's about suspicion of threats, said a spokeswoman for the prosecution on Thursday. Last December, after clear criticism in the state parliament, Queckemeyer admitted to having verbally attacked two politicians from the Green parliamentary group. The NDR had previously reported.

According to earlier information from the parliamentary manager of the Greens, Volker Bajus, Queckemeyer said to the MPs in the state parliament foyer: “The Greens must be voted out. You have to kick them down and then walk away.” A day later, Queckemeyer said: “The term kicking is unparliamentary and it suggests violence.

The AfD MP Queckemeyer from the Osnabrück district had already attracted attention at a state parliament meeting last September. At that time he had to leave the plenary hall after three calls for order from the presidium.

Bishops warn against AfD

In East Germany, the AfD, along with other right-wing parties, has also been criticized by Catholic bishops. In a joint appeal, which was first reported by “Spiegel” on Thursday evening, they declared, with reference to their conscience, that they could support the positions of extreme parties such as “III. Weg”, the Heimat party or even the AfD do not accept.

The letter literally says: “Crude fantasies of expulsion for migrants and their supporters, the rejection of offers of protection for refugees, the exclusion of people with disabilities, the sole focus on performance, the denial of man-made climate change and the general contempt for political actors and institutions are incompatible with these basic values ​​of our society.”

The bishops admit that many people no longer understand political decisions. They are insecure, angry and afraid of social decline. But: “This must not lead us to allow ourselves to be taken over by populist statements and seemingly simple solutions.” The call is signed by the Archbishops Heiner Koch (Berlin) and Stefan Heße (Hamburg) as well as the Bishops Gerhard Feige (Magdeburg), Ulrich Neymeyr (Erfurt), Heinrich Timmerevers (Dresden-Meißen) and Wolfgang Ipolt (Görlitz).

Hamburg Archbishop Heße told “Spiegel” that they had agreed in December to speak out now. The AfD described Heße as “anti-democratic” and her ideas as “ethnic and nationalistic”. The archbishop, who is also a refugee bishop for the German Bishops' Conference, continued: “There is no intersection between Christianity and the AfD.”

Erfurt Bishop Neymeyr called the appeal a “wake-up call for Catholics in the AfD who are alienating themselves from their faith through their membership.” Neymeyr added that he only understands dissatisfaction with politics to a certain extent. His understanding ends “where generally accepted facts are denied, such as man-made climate change”.