AfD event in Fürstenwalde: Police investigate attacks on YouTubers

dpa | The police are investigating after attacks and arguments between visitors to an AfD event in Fürstenwalde and YouTubers. Internally, she also investigates criticism of the actions of the emergency services. A blogger against right-wing extremism posted video footage of an attack against him online on Saturday. He complained that he had been sent off, but not the alleged attacker.

“The video is the subject of the investigation, we are looking at it,” said a spokesman for the East Police Department. “If criticism is expressed about police work, it will lead to an internal review.”

On Unity Day on Saturday, numerous AfD supporters came together for a rally and demonstration with Thuringia's AfD state chairman Björn Höcke in Fürstenwalde, 50 kilometers southeast of Berlin. The police spoke of around 1,500 visitors. Höcke, who is considered a right-wing extremist in his party and was convicted twice by the Halle regional court for using a banned SA slogan, spoke to cheering supporters of a “turning mood” after the East German state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

As the police wrote in a statement, a 23-year-old YouTuber who reported on the event was said to have been physically attacked and insulted. Previously, he is said to have taken “detailed photographs” himself against the defendant’s will.

A police spokesman said on Sunday that the visitor to the AfD event, who was suspected of assault, had previously been filmed. According to previous findings, the YouTuber was asked to stop. Then he was insulted - with reference to the crimes of the National Socialists. That's why a 38-year-old woman is being investigated, as the spokesman said. Her companion is then said to have hit the YouTuber. Civilian police intervened.

For his protection and to prevent further crimes, the YouTuber was ordered not to enter the square with the AfD meeting, said the police spokesman. No expulsion was issued against the alleged attacker. He was allowed to attend the AfD meeting again because no “confrontational potential” was to be expected.

The YouTuber described the police's behavior as incomprehensible. "The man who attacked us is allowed to continue to be at the event. No words for it!" it said on Instagram.

Shortly after this incident, another YouTuber was physically attacked, according to police. In both cases, the police filed several reports of bodily harm, insults and violations of the Art Copyright Act.

The AfD event on Unity Day was also accompanied by a protest from an alliance. Posters reading “Björn is a Nazi” hung in the city with around 34,000 residents. On the cathedral square, a few hundred meters away from the AfD, rainbow colors shone: a festival for diversity and against the right was taking place there. “Our home is Bunter” read one banner.

The police estimated the number of participants at around 500 people. This is based on the peak number of participants, said a spokesman. The organizers of the festival said that at least 1,400 people celebrated throughout the day.