A German politician has been arrested after being found in possession of Nazi memorabilia.
Daniel Halemba, a recently elected member of the Bavarian state legislature on the ticket of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), was arrested after chants of ‘Sieg Heil,’ were reported as coming from the building housing a student fraternity to which he belongs. ‘Sieg Heil’ is a phrase associated with the Nazis.
The 22-year-old Halemba was arrested after being found in possession of Nazi iconography, which is banned in Germany. He was also arrested on suspicion of sedition.
Halemba said that the warrant for his arrest was ‘totally lawless’.
The AfD is increasing in popularity in Germany, and last month it emerged as the third most-popular party in Bavaria, one of Germany’s biggest and most important states, when it won nearly 15% of the vote.
The next national election in Germany is only due in 2025 but the AfD is now regularly the second most-popular party in opinion polls, after the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, which is currently in opposition.