Should an attack be carried out on Alice Weidel and her family? There was no official confirmation of this on Wednesday, and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which is responsible for Weidel’s security, did not want to comment. However, according to her party, there were apparently plans to attack the co-chair of the AfD. Ms. Weidel and her family were “taken from their private apartment to a safe place” by security authorities because evidence had accumulated that “pointed to an attack on her family,” the AfD said.
Weidel had previously canceled a speech planned for German Unity Day in the Bavarian-Thuringian border town of Mödlareuth; it was supposed to be an appearance before the state elections in Bavaria next Sunday. “I would love nothing more than to be with you today, but unfortunately I can’t,” Weidel said in a video message to her followers. The AfD said Weidel had refrained from making public appearances on Tuesday “for reasons of caution.”
Weidel lives in Überlingen on Lake Constance, but says she also has a residence in Switzerland, where she lives with her Swiss partner and two sons. According to the AfD, the incident, which was classified as threatening, occurred the weekend before last. The AfD did not provide any further information. The Schwyz cantonal police confirmed this South German newspaper on Wednesday a police operation on September 23rd in connection with Weidel at her place of residence. A spokesman for the authority said Weidel contacted the police himself. For police tactical reasons, they do not want to provide any further information.
People close to her say that personal protection for Weidel has been increased
People close to Weidel said that the allegedly planned attack apparently had a political background. They are in contact with the BKA and there are no suspects yet. Personal protection for Weidel has been increased. It was also said from those around Weidel that she and her family were no longer in the safe place. The appointment in Mödlareuth was therefore not canceled on the advice of the BKA, but was a decision by Weidel himself. Weidel did not want to explain the incident on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old has been the AfD parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag since 2017, and at the federal party conference last year in Riesa she was also elected co-party leader alongside Tino Chrupalla. With this she also leads the parliamentary group.
On social media, AfD politicians presented the alleged attack plans as a consequence of the established parties’ sharp criticism of the AfD. This was “the seeds” of Steinmeier, Merkel, Söder, the “old party establishment” and “controlled media”, wrote the Bavarian AfD top candidate Katrin Ebner-Steiner on Platform X, formerly Twitter. On election day next Sunday, voters could end this “exclusion” of the AfD. Other AfD supporters called for “solidarity with Weidel.”
AfD politicians and Weidel himself regularly take a sharp tone towards political opponents. At the beginning of September, the AfD chairwoman said at an election event: “We are governed by madmen and idiots.” However, the party also sees itself as a victim of unequal treatment by the other parties, the media and other social actors such as associations that reject cooperation with the right-wing extremist party.
According to the AfD, there was also an incident with party leader Tino Chrupalla. A party spokesman said in the evening that an “assault incident” against the federal chairman occurred at an election campaign event in Ingolstadt on Wednesday afternoon. The police in Ingolstadt did not confirm an attack on Chrupalla until the evening, but only that there had been a police operation. Chrupalla was taken to a hospital where his health condition was being clarified, the AfD said. The police initially did not provide any further details.