German political parties and media express solidarity with far-right AfD
By
Ulrich Rippert and Johannes Stern
14 January 2019
The recent attack on AfD politician Frank Magnitz has been used by Germany’s parliamentary parties and leading media outlets to organise an unprecedented propaganda campaign on behalf of the Alternative for Germany and declare their solidarity with this right-wing extremist party. Magnitz is the chairman of the AfD in the city of Bremen and was attacked on Monday evening by three unknown persons. He suffered a head injury and was taken to the hospital where he was treated.
The AfD immediately declared the attack an “attempted murder” (according to AfD federal chairman Alexander Gauland) carried out by “left-wing terrorists” (AfD spokesman Jörg Meuthen). In a press release, the party leadership described the attack as follows: “They [the perpetrators] beat him unconscious with a square piece of timber and continued to kick his head when he was on the ground. It is only thanks to the courageous intervention of a construction worker that the attackers could not complete their plan and Frank Magnitz escaped with his life. He now lies seriously injured in hospital.”
It is now known that this account was entirely fictitious. The incident had been recorded by several surveillance cameras, and one day later the police announced that the version given by the AfD was false. What took place was clearly visible from the surveillance camera videos, declared Frank Passade, spokesman for the Bremen prosecutor’s office. On Monday evening Magnitz was pursued on the way to his car by three unknown persons. One of them hit Magnitz on the back or on the head with his elbow.
Magnitz then tumbled to the ground and hit his head as the three suspects ran…