Four days before the Bavarian state elections, AfD leader Chrupalla wanted to speak in Ingolstadt, but suddenly had to receive medical treatment during the event. The circumstances are unclear. The public prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation.
According to his office, AfD leader Tino Chrupalla is being monitored in intensive care after he was taken to hospital at a campaign rally in Ingolstadt.
According to a spokesman, Chrupalla is responsive and was examined thoroughly in a clinic. He is stable “under the circumstances.”
Public prosecutor directs Investigation process a
However, there is still a lot of uncertainty about what exactly these “circumstances” are. The AfD leader was hospitalized during the event – for reasons that were initially unclear.
The police said that Chrupalla had to receive medical attention backstage the afternoon before his speech began and then came to the clinic. No obvious injury was apparent at this point. “In order to clarify the details of this medical incident, further investigations were carried out by the Ingolstadt Criminal Investigation Department.”
A police spokesman said in the evening that the police wanted to investigate whether third parties could be responsible for the incident. At this point there was no evidence of an attack.
As a spokeswoman for the Ingolstadt public prosecutor’s office told the AFP news agency on Thursday, an investigation has now been initiated on suspicion of bodily harm.
The AfD federal office had previously spoken of an “assault incident” against Chrupalla. In Bavaria, the state parliament will be elected on Sunday.
AfDState parliamentary group reported “incident”
The spokesman for Chrupalla’s office later said that police and security authorities were investigating a grievous bodily harm. He did not provide any information about what exactly might have happened on the sidelines of the election campaign event in Ingolstadt and referred to the ongoing investigations.
A spokesman for the Bavarian AfD parliamentary group said that an incident occurred in a crowd shortly before Chrupalla’s speech. Police asked visitors who took photos or videos around the event to make them available to investigators.
According to the spokesman, Weidel was taken to a “safe place”.
Chrupalla, who comes from Saxony, has been the party’s leadership duo with Alice Weidel since June 2022. You are also chairwoman of the AfD parliamentary group. Weidel had decided not to make a planned public appearance in the Bavarian-Thuringian border town of Mödlareuth on German Unity Day.
A party spokesman said there had been a “security-related incident” the weekend before last. Weidel’s partner and both children live in Einsiedeln in central Switzerland. The authorities there confirmed this ARD capital studio use in this context.
“Mrs. Weidel and her family were taken from their private apartment to a safe place by security authorities as evidence had accumulated that pointed to an attack on her family,” a spokesman said in response to a request from the dpa news agency.
“For police tactical reasons, however, we cannot provide any further information,” said the head of communications for the Schwyz cantonal police, Florian Grossmann. The police spokesman also remained cautious when asked where the tip-off for the operation came from – and left it open whether the specific police measures were still ongoing. “But we would like to state that the Schwyz cantonal police are working in the canton of Schwyz to ensure the safety of all citizens. And they do so around the clock.”
“Spiegel”: Weidel was on vacation in Mallorca
The “Spiegel” reports that Weidel was in Mallorca, where she was vacationing with her family, during the AfD election campaign event, which she allegedly canceled for security reasons.
According to the report, Weidel’s office confirmed the stay in Mallorca. “It is correct, Ms. Weidel was in Mallorca with her family at the time in question,” said Weidel’s personal spokesman. However, there had actually been a security-related incident before – on September 23rd, ten days before the canceled election campaign appearance.
After the “very disturbing event,” which the spokesman did not elaborate on, Weidel followed the recommendation to “stay away from her home environment for some time, which was a suspected target of the attack.” She “decided not to communicate her whereabouts for security reasons.”
Her spokesman left questions about how long Weidel had been on Mallorca, whether she was still there and how long the vacation on the Spanish holiday island had been planned unanswered.
With information from Dietrich Karl Mäurer, ARD capital studio