AfD in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: AfD MP shows neo-Nazi gesture in the Schwerin state parliament

The AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania wanted to show support for the state in the run-up to the inaugural session of parliament. Your candidate for the office of state parliament president, Carlos Rodrigues, who failed on Tuesday, even praised himself and his followers as a guarantee of “de-escalation and objectivity”.

What exactly the AfD means by this was shown on Tuesday by its newly elected member of the Schwerin state parliament, Tommy Thormann. In a short Instagram video, the ex-soldier documented his first session in parliament, panned to the Greens ("they're already puking"), to his own parliamentary group ("nice and full, that's how it should be") - and finally proudly showed the white power gesture into the camera. The hand sign is used by neo-Nazis and stands for the alleged supremacy of a “white race”.

Thormann has repeatedly attracted attention in the past through right-wing extremist provocations. In May, the man from the ethnic wing threatened at an event in Sassnitz auf Rügen that the AfD would, as soon as it took power, set the police on political opponents. After missing the “takeover of power” in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the election on September 20th, Thormann was promoted to spokesman for left-wing extremism in the new AfD parliamentary group.

The neo-Nazi gesture made public by Thormann himself during the parliamentary session stunned the three democratic factions on Wednesday. "There are no fact-oriented MPs sitting there who want to improve the lives of people in MV. There are right-wing extremists sitting there who are deliberately identifying themselves as such in parliament," says SPD parliamentary group leader Julian Barlen. It has long been clear that Thormann is not a democrat. “Now the last person should have understood that.”

The fact that Thormann made the gesture in front of the camera in the plenary hall on the first day of the new legislative period makes it clear how little inhibition he has about publicly displaying right-wing extremist symbolism, says Green Party parliamentary group leader Claudia Müller. “The incident is more than a tasteless provocation: it once again shows how deeply right-wing extremist ideas are anchored in the AfD.”

The SPD, the Left and the Greens don’t want to leave it at that. The AfD parliamentary group leader Enrico Schult was asked to “send a signal and immediately exclude Thormann from the parliamentary group,” said Julian Barlen. Of all people, Schult, who had promised his supporters on election evening with a view to the new state parliament: "If we march in here with our troops. They will tremble before us. And they are right to tremble."

The extreme right-wing faction then also supports its MPs. “For Mr. Thormann, the gesture simply means: “Running,” says the AfD. Other MPs also showed various gestures before the start of the official meeting, which were also not political but could only be interpreted as greetings.

Left-wing state and parliamentary group leader Hennis Herbst has meanwhile written to the President of the State Parliament to have the incident examined by the Presidium and to “consider appropriate parliamentary consequences, in particular a reprimand”. Herbst says: “We will not allow racist provocations to become normal.” The state parliament must draw clear boundaries.

The SPD, the Left and the Greens see the scandal as confirmation that it was right not to give the AfD candidate for the state parliament presidency a single vote from the democratic ranks on Tuesday. Herbst says: “The AfD itself repeatedly provides reasons why its representatives are not suitable for this office.”

In the new state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the extreme right-wing AfD is the strongest faction with 32 members. However, the three democratic factions of the SPD, the Left and the Greens, which are currently negotiating a joint government coalition, have the parliamentary majority with a total of 39 seats.

Note d. Editor: The article was supplemented by the statement from the AfD.