The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party sent “deportation tickets” for “illegal immigrants” to mailboxes around the city of Karlsruhe, a local AfD official confirmed to dpa on Tuesday.
Police in the western city have launched an investigation into the campaign stunt on suspicion of incitement to hatred.
The AfD election mailers were designed to look like airline tickets, with the departure date listed as February 23, the same day as Germany’s upcoming general election.
The itinerary is listed as “From: Germany – To: Safe country of origin.”
A spokesman for the AfD’s regional party organization confirmed to dpa that the flyers were distributed as part of the election campaign by the AfD’s local district-level group in Karlsruhe.
Activists from the left-wing The Left party alleged that the AfD had placed the “deportation tickets” in the letterboxes of people with non-German ethnic heritage.
The AfD regional party spokesman, on the other hand, stated that the “deportation ticket”-themed campaign flyers were aimed at all eligible voters and that a large number were still being distributed in Karlsruhe.
There was talk of around 30,000 copies of the flyers.
The AfD spokesman said that local party activists behind the flyer would also be sharing the print template for the “deportation ticket” flyers to other AfD party groups for use elsewhere in Germany.
It was initially unclear how many mailboxes the controversial flyer actually ended up in. However, photos of the flyers posted to social media platforms drew heated reactions online.
