extremism
City of Potsdam is considering entry ban for right-wing extremists
After the meeting of extreme right-wingers in Potsdam became known, people across Germany took to the streets – in Potsdam the authorities also want to take action. photo
© Valentin Gensch/dpa
After the meeting of radical right-wingers, the security authorities get involved. The city of Potsdam – the venue for the talks – wants to take action against a right-wing extremist pacemaker.
After the meeting of radical right-wingers in In Potsdam, the city’s immigration authority is examining the possibility of an entry ban against the former head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement in Austria, Martin Sellner.
The city of Potsdam announced that it would be assessed in coordination with the German security authorities whether there was a threat to security and public order. Several media outlets previously reported on the review of an entry ban for Sellner.
Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) said: “An immigration authority can also obtain an entry ban for EU citizens if they pose a threat to security and order. If Potsdam feels responsible for this, they can check it.” However, it is important that such a measure is ordered in a legally secure manner and can withstand judicial review.
All authorities involved
When asked about an examination of a possible entry ban against Sellner, the city said that, on the advice of federal security authorities, it was examining “whether the statements made in Potsdam, the place of the meeting, pose a threat to security and public order and whether repetitions in the context of a local jurisdiction must be prevented using constitutional means”. All relevant security authorities at federal and state level were involved in the weighing process. “If you want to avoid the unjust state, you have to use the rule of law,” said Mayor Mike Schubert (SPD).
Already on Tuesday, the Left Party’s spokeswoman for anti-fascism, Martina Renner, told the dpa that she had raised the question in the Bundestag Interior Committee as to whether the government intended to take measures to prevent Sellner from entering the country. The representatives of the BMI (Federal Ministry of the Interior) present explained that this would be taken into account and examined.”
Federal police are supposed to be looking for Sellner
The “Spiegel” reported, with reference to information from security circles, that the federal police had already secretly advertised Sellner as a wanted man. A corresponding entry has been stored in the internal search database. The Federal Police Headquarters did not comment on this information when asked on Sunday. The authority announced that the responsible immigration authority in Potsdam was conducting an examination procedure. The Federal Police cannot provide any further information in this regard.
Sellner wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday that he wanted to take legal action against an entry ban into Germany. “I’m certainly not canceling my upcoming appointments in Germany because of this.”
The Correctiv research center made public a meeting of radical right-wingers on November 25th in Potsdam, in which some AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union took part. Sellner said he spoke about “remigration” at the meeting. When right-wing extremists use the term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country – even under duress.