Several alleged supporters of a subgroup of the Identitarian Movement, dressed in Santa Claus costumes, distributed far-right leaflets on the Munich subway. On Tuesday evening, members of the group boarded a U6 line train at the Odeonsplatz station and began distributing flyers designed as red-and-white “boarding passes,” a police spokesperson reported. According to available information, the flyers featured phrases such as “asylum seekers,” “illegal migrants,” and the slogan “From Germany back home.”
The action is attributed to the group “Lederhosen Revolte” (“Leather Trousers Revolt”), which the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) classifies as part of the far-right Identitarian Movement (ID), the spokesperson said. Witnesses contacted the police. The investigation was taken over by the LfV, which is examining the suspicion of incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung), according to the police spokesperson.
Group Has Long Been Active in Bavaria
The Identitarian Movement (ID) is a far-right movement that holds racist and Islamophobic positions and regularly draws attention with protest actions. In Germany, the group is monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The ID itself portrays itself as a “patriotic youth movement.” Constitutional protectors note that the movement is active nationwide through regional subgroups and makes intensive use of social media.
The “Lederhosen Revolte” group has repeatedly been noticed in Bavaria. In 2023, its members held a protest in Munich during which, according to the Bavarian Information Center against Extremism, refugees were generally attributed a tendency toward criminality. Earlier this autumn, the Munich editors of t-online reported on the Identitarian Movement distributing leaflets in a bookstore on Ludwigstrasse.
For this movement, according to the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, exclusive ethnic origin is the determining factor for belonging to the German people. According to their ideology, every people should only live in its own territory and thus preserve its identity. Under the slogan “Remigration,” Identitarians demand a reversal of migration flows.
Source: dpa
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