German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday urged democrats to stand against far-right "fanatics" after reports emerged of Alternative for Germany [AfD] party members attending a meeting where expelling citizens of foreign ethnic backgrounds was discussed.
Two senior AfD politicians reportedly attended the November meeting in a villa near Berlin, where far-right influencer Martin Sellner outlined plans for the "remigration" of "unassimilated" people with German citizenship out of the country.
But the politicians said the plans were not party policy.
At the meeting, it was proposed that people be deported to a "model state in North Africa".
Critics of the plan drew comparisons with the Nazis' initial plan to deport European Jews to Madagascar, before they decided on systematic mass murder.
"We protect all, regardless of origin, skin colour or how uncomfortable someone is from fanatics with assimilation fantasies," Mr Scholz wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.
"Learning from history is about more than just lip service. Democrats must stand together."
The AfD is soaring in polls before regional and European elections this year, buoyed by severely constrained public finances and state services burdened by rising immigration.
Migrants arriving in Europe - in pictures
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Migrants at a reception centre on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy. Reuters -
Italian firefighters in Marinella di Selinunte, Sicily, remove fuel cans from a boat used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean. EPA -
Migrants on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy. Reuters -
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman in Alexandroupolis during a visit to the north-eastern Greek border with Turkey to see surveillance facilities and learn how Greek security forces monitor the land border. PA -
Ms Braverman on board an Hellenic Coastguard patrol vessel with Coastal Commander Dimitri Tsinias off the island of Samos. PA -
A group of people thought to be migrants in Grande-Synthe, northern France after French police dismantled their camp clearing their tents and shelters. PA -
A migrant works out in the recreation area of the Centre de Retention Administrative, a migrant detention centre in Vincennes, France. AFP -
A Federal Police officer and a colleague in a forest near Forst, south-east of Berlin, with a group of migrants who illegally crossed the border from Poland into Germany. AP -
Migrants after being detained by German police in Forst, Germany. EPA
In response, all parties have pledged to crack down on illegal immigration, an approach that has only given more visibility to the AfD's policy.
Far from being embarrassed by the meeting, Maximilian Krah, the party's lead candidate for November's European Parliament elections, insisted on the party's pledge to deport illegal immigrants.
"In 2022, 2.7 million people migrated to Germany," he wrote on X.
"That is destroying our country. Only the AfD will stop this and arrange their return."
