The rift is said to have been announced for a long time: In Bremen, the AFD parliamentary group fraction after a party-internal dispute is broken. The state chairman Frank Magnitz and the deputies Uwe Felgenträger and Mark Runge declared on Sunday evening their withdrawal from the so far five-member faction. Only about three months ago, a new citizenship had been elected.
Magnitz said it had come to a quarrel with faction leader Thomas Jürgewitz. This had blocked a constructive opposition work in the citizenry and Magnitz accused of having embezzled a five-digit sum of money. As a group, the three deputies but want to stay in the citizenry.
Magnitz is also a member of the AfD parliamentary group. However, according to a spokesman, the AFD Federal Council had asked him to declare by September 1 which of his two mandates he would renounce in the future. Otherwise he would have to reckon with corrective measures. These could possibly be decided already this week.
Magnitz was unimpressed. "The federal board is not the body to demand such a thing," he said. The state executive also demanded the same word, which shows that Jürgewitz is behind it. He does not fear a party disqualification: "Should they try, I'll look calmly ahead."
Magnitz had caused a stir in January with a video: It should be seen how the AfD politician was struck down by strangers. However, there were doubts about the original presentation of the attack. In a report of a forensic doctor it was said that the injuries of the 66-year-old can be explained by a fall.