German far-right party shaken by rising sway of hardliner Hoecke

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS JULY 10, 2019 / 10:59 AM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

German far-right party shaken by rising sway of hardliner Hoecke

Joseph Nasr
4 MIN READ

BERLIN (Reuters) - Scores of senior members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party condemned on Wednesday the rising influence of a local leader who is militantly anti-immigrant and wants to highlight German over Jewish suffering in World War Two.

“We say it very clearly: the AfD is not and will not be a Bjoern Hoecke party,” the 108 members, including dozens of regional and national lawmakers, wrote in a letter to party leaders about the AfD leader of eastern Thuringia state.

Members fear his crude rhetoric may alienate conservative voters who helped the AfD enter parliament for the first time in a 2017 election in protest at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to welcome asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa.

Among a swathe of nationalist movements making waves across Europe, the AfD is the third largest party in Germany’s legislature and may make big gains in three regional votes later this year. But Hoecke’s role is tearing at party unity.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-afd/german-far-right-party-shaken-by-rising-sway-of-hardliner-hoecke-idUSKCN1U51VK

[nycbos]

1. They created a monster and now the monster is biting them.

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. Sounds *very* familiar, doesn't it?

[nycbos]

3. Yes it does

[FiveGoodMen]

4. "Never Bjoern Hoecke" ?

That worked great with the GOP and Trump!

[shenmue]

5. So he's even worse than them

Maybe they should welcome this taste of their own medicine!

[lunasun]

6. However late, at least their party is rejecting Hoacke. Not like repugs love of trump/miller that

never stops not matter how crude or cruel they get