The far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) fired its former spokesman on Monday after reports emerged that he had discussed the gassing or shooting of migrants.
German television network Pro7 aired a clip on Monday in which AfD’s Christian Lüth is purportedly heard making the xenophobic comments.
“We could kill migrants by shooting them, that’s not even an issue,” hy het gesê, volgens die video. “Or we could gas them, whatever you want, I don’t care.”
Op Twitter, AfD said his remarks, which were made in February, “stand in direct contract to the libertarian-democratic principles of our party, [en] can in no way be attributed to the AfD.”
The party tweeted Lüth ”is no longer a member of the AfD and has not spoken for the party since January 2018.”
Lüth was previously a spokesman for the party until 2018. In April, he was suspended as spokesman for AfD’s parliamentary group after he made other xenophobic remarks in social media chat groups, said AfD spokesman Bastian Behrens.
After returning from summer break, the parliamentary group considered reinstating Lüth as spokesman.
But the video’s revelations about the xenophobic remarks put an end to that, Behrens said. The parliamentary group, which always meets on Mondays, immediately decided to let him go.
Lüth resigned as party member on his own accord, according to Behrens.
AfD won third place in national elections in 2017, becoming the first far-right party to enter the Bundestag since the 1960s. But the pandemic has seen voters rally around traditional parties, with AfD slumping to single figures in local opinion polls over the summer.
