Neo Nazi hands out balloons after far-right victory
German police on Tuesday, launched an investigation after a video clip was spread online showing a man wearing neo-Nazi clothes, handing out balloons to kids in a park, soon after the far-right Alternative for Germany Party (AFD) won a historic victory in the local elections in Sonneberg district in Thuringia.
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The clip was posted online by a left-wing lawmaker in Turingia who said the man was filmed outside a kindergarten wearing a shirt with a picture of a Nazi soldier and the words "who is ready to join again?"
He was also wearing red, white and black colored pants, associated with the 3rd Reich, as he collected balloons out the trunk of a car and handed them to the children standing on the opposite side of a fence.
The sign on his car read "Volunteer, helping expulsion," and at least one of the blue balloons had the AFD marking on it, a color associated with the party.
Turingia Education Minister Helmut Holter condemned the incident. "The fact that an alleged noe-Nazi would target our kindergarten children without our permission is a grave assault, he said adding that newly elected district leader would bear responsibility for the safety of kindergartens.
The AFD, which has been previously accused of antisemitism and hatred toward immigrants and was branded by its opponents as "Nazis in suits," has been gaining traction in recent months despite disappointing performances in polls. This comes amid growing dissatisfaction with the center-left government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who assumed office at the end of last year and was increasingly criticized for high inflation, the influx of immigrants to Germany, the plan to replace millions of home heating systems, and internal power struggles.
AFD has already been under the watchful eye of authorities in Germany and its leader Björn Höcke is on trial for using slogans affiliated with the Nazi stormtroopers the SA
First published: 12:35, 06.28.23