Germany: SPD protests AfD election as coalition calls for party ban

Political tensions are rising in Germany following the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as the Landtag President in Saxony-Anhalt. In response, the SPD parliamentary group in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) staged a protest using white roses and copies of the Basic Law to signal their opposition to what they describe as a democratic setback.

Simultaneously, a coalition of 130 organizations known as ‘NRW-Appell AfD-Verbot jetzt’ has launched a campaign to urge the Bundesrat to initiate proceedings to ban the AfD party. The group is conducting a tour from Bielefeld to Berlin, utilizing a large-scale art installation of a fish to draw attention to their cause. The initiative claims to have collected over 120,000 signatures in NRW and intends to present their demands to Minister President Hendrik Wüst during his upcoming election as Bundesrat President.