Germany bans political opponents from owning guns
A German court ruled last week that members of Alternative for Germany (AfD), a Right-wing populist party, are banned from owning guns.
A growing threat to Germany’s ruling party
AfD has been growing in popularity. Last month the party outshined Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) in European Parliamentary elections with 15.9% of the vote. After winning 83 seats in federal elections in 2021, the party has become a primary challenger to the German government. AfD is also known for being the loudest opposition to COVID-19 mandates. Last year, party officials intervened when a judge ordered elderly Holocaust survivor Inna Zhvanetskaya to be forcibly injected with the COVID-19 vaccine.
Smear campaigns, assassination attempts, arrests, and attacks
AfD’s popularity has grown despite coordinated efforts by the media and the German government to silence its members, who have been arrested, fined, spied on, and subjected to violent attacks and assassination attempts. Party officials are routinely smeared as Nazi sympathizers, and have been accused by mainstream media of harboring Chinese spies and accepting bribes from the Kremlin.
When government attempts to ban the party failed, AfD officials were forced to go into hiding for fear of assassination or arrest. In October, German police arrested newly elected AfD politician Daniel Halemba hours before he took office to begin his five-year term in the Bavarian State Parliament.
Banned from owning guns
Last week, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court rejected an appeal by a couple whose gun permits were revoked because of their affiliation with AfD. According to German media, the judges based their ruling on the fact that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, has officially declared AfD a “‘suspected’ threat to democracy.”
The case will now move to the Münster Higher Administrative Court.
De-banked
A Leftist organization called Omas Gegen Rechts, or Grandmothers Against the Right, claimed victory last week after successfully pressuring Berliner Volksbank, a major banking chain, to cut business ties with AfD. The group reportedly had amassed over 33,000 signatures for a petition urging Berliner Volksbank to drop AfD over “Nazism.”
Nearly banned from politics
In August, government leaders called to ban AfD from participating in politics due to “racism” and "extremism” in the party, though supporting evidence was not provided.
Beaten and threatened
Days later, AfD candidate Andreas Jurca and his colleague were brutally beaten in an apparently coordinated attack during a campaign event. Jurca was approached by a man who asked him to confirm that he was “Andreas Jurca from the posters.” When Jurca affirmed, the man shook his hand while an accomplice began beating the politician. Someone yelled “damn Nazi” and Jurca was knocked unconscious. He was hospitalized with severe bruises, a broken ankle, and several other injuries. His colleague suffered minor injuries and a torn shirt.
Weeks after that, AfD Co-Chair Alice Weidel and her family went into hiding due to credible security threats. She did not make her scheduled campaign appearance.
A day later, AfD’s other co-chair, Tino Chrupalla, was rushed to intensive care just before he was scheduled to speak after suffering what an AfD spokesman said was a “violent incident” that involved a “puncture wound.” According to reporter Eva Vlaardingerbroek, Chrupalla was the victim of an assassination attempt with a syringe.
Government surveillance
Last year, the government convinced a German court to allow surveillance of AfD party members, claiming it is a “suspicious” party that “stands for racism.”
