German mayor driven away by anti-refugee racists

This 23 November 2919 video from Germany says about itself (translated):

Because of witchhunt: Mayoress gives up office | Sky Germany

Solidarity from state and federal politics: Martina Angermann had condemned the behaviour of a “paramilitary” gang who had tied an Iraqi to a tree.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV, 22 November 2019:

The mayor of the German town of Arnsdorf has resigned her post after continuing threats. Martina Angermann (61) has been sick at home with a burnout since February and has applied for early retirement.

Arnsdorf, a place with some 5000 inhabitants in the eastern state of Saxony, came in the news in 2016 when four men tied an Iraqi refugee with psychological problems to a tree. One of the perpetrators was a municipal councillor on behalf of the right-wing populist

Dear NOS and other journalists: stop abusing the word ‘populist’ as an euphemism for neo-fascist racists.

party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Mayor Angermann has strongly condemned the action several times, which led to a storm of criticism, hatred and (death) threats from the right wing.

Incidentally, the investigation into the abuse case was quickly cut off and the four men were not on trial.

Witchhunt

Last month the AfD group in the Arnsdorf local council called on mayor Angermann to resign because of her illness. The party threatened to put her position to a vote, but it did not come to that.

According to the German news site Focus, Angermann’s party, the Social Democratic SPD, speaks of a witchhhunt against the mayor. “For months she has been verbally attacked, threatened and intimidated,” says party secretary Homann. Minister of Justice Lambrecht says to broadcaster MDR: “If people withdraw from their social involvement because of threats, then our democracy will be jeopardized.”

#Arnsdorf – BM Christine Lambrecht zur Entscheidung der Arnsdorfer Bürgermeisterin, Martina Angermann, sich vorzeitig in den Ruhestand versetzen zu lassen: pic.twitter.com/3tqPr9SNfn

— BM der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz (@BMJV_Bund) November 22, 2019

Dear Ms Lambrecht and other SPD politicians: you are correct in this. However, the racism which now has driven Mayor Angermann into illness and retirement is partly the fault of your party. As your CDU-CSU-SPD coalition government, eg, stopped the investigation into the far-right paramilitary violence against that Iraqi refugee in Arnsdorf. And as that government massively deports refugees to war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, falsely claimed to be ‘safe’.

The student’s association (Asta) at the University of Hamburg has been bombarded with hate mail and threats of violence after students protested against a founding member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Bernd Lucke, who returned to his teaching post at the university: here.