Germany Discovers Border Control: Bans Right Wing Activist Martin Sellner

Austrian identitarian activist Martin Sellner has been banned from Germany after the city of Potsdam obtained a national entry ban on the Identitäre Bewegung Österreich leader for the next three years.

Sellner — a prominent figure in the Neue Rechte (New Right) and Identitarian movements which advocate against mass migration and against the “Islamisation” of Europe — confirmed on social media on Tuesday that a rare entry ban obtained against an “EU citizen” by the German city of Potsdam was indeed against him. Sellner vowed to launch legal challenges to the ban, arguing that he has never been convicted of a crime and that the ban is based upon his opinions and writings.

The move was seemingly inspired by a January report from the Soros-funded Correctiv non-profit, which claimed that members of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) attended a conference with Sellner in Potsdam where a so-called “secret plan against Germany” was hatched. The paper, which was based on second-hand reports, claimed that Sellner and others argued for the deportation of non-Europeans from Germany, even those migration background individuals who hold German citizenship.

The report sparked weeks of protests and negative press against the AfD {snip}

Nevertheless, using seldom-utilised powers, under Section 6 of the Freedom of Movement Act, the typically open borders government of Germany revoked Sellner’s right as an EU citizen to enter the country over an alleged risk to public order, broadcaster NTV reports. The decision came just days after Sellner was arrested and deported after attempting to hold a rally in the small village of Tegerfelden near the German border.

{snip}

Sellner’s ban from Germany also comes amid a campaign from the Social Democrat Party-led government to crack down on what they call a threat from right-wing extremism, and in particular, the populist Alternative for Germany party, which coincidentally has overtaken the SPD in polls. The efforts are being spearheaded by Antifa-tied Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, who announced last month new powers for the government to monitor financial transactions of “far-right” networks as well as powers to prevent gatherings of “far-right extremists”.

{snip}