Wiesbaden. Following criticism of a martial video, the Hessian AfD state parliament member Maximilian Müger has left his party and parliamentary group, according to the state party leadership. Müger was asked to leave the party – he complied with this request, the AfD announced. He also announced his resignation from the parliamentary group. The issue was a video of Müger with an assault rifle that was briefly seen on Tiktok. Müger himself was initially unavailable for comment.
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The two state spokespersons Robert Lambrou and Andreas Lichert further explained: “By leaving the party, Maximilian Müger has spared the party and the parliamentary group the time-consuming process of expulsion from the party and expulsion from the parliamentary group, which would inevitably have been his lot due to his behavior.”
According to Müger, the video was published “accidentally”
His quickly deleted video, which is also available to the German Press Agency, shows Müger with an assault rifle at the ready. He calls for “free weapons for free citizens!” and fires three times into the air. With a view to the knife attack in Solingen that left three people dead, the former AfD MP said: “You are no longer safe in German cities and have to be afraid of being stabbed or murdered in some other way at a party or on the way home.”
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According to an AfD spokesman, Müger later explained that the video had been “accidentally” published on Tiktok for a few minutes. It was intended for private use. “The video was shot at an official shooting range in Poland under the supervision of a shooting instructor, and the loaned weapon is subject to all regulations of Polish law,” Müger continued. He is an aspiring sports shooter.
Müger had already given up several other political offices following heavy criticism of the video. Hesse’s Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) recently said of the video: “Obviously the aim here is to legitimize the use of armed force in migration policy. And that is terrible.” He stressed: “Such actions pose a high risk that outbreaks of violence will actually occur.”
