Lawmaker leaves Germany's far-right AfD over assault rifle video

A German regional politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has left the party over a video he published on TikTok of himself holding an assault rifle.

Maximilian Müger, an AfD politician in the western German state of Hesse, posted the provocative video not long after a deadly knife attack on August 23 at a festival in the western German city of Solingen. He later deleted the post.

Müger was initially removed from local leadership posts but has now left the party and its parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, the AfD said on Friday.

AfD spokesmen Robert Lambrou and Andreas Lichert added "By leaving the party, Maximilian Müger has spared the party and the parliamentary group the time-consuming process of a party expulsion."

In Müger's deleted video, which was seen by dpa, the politician held an assault rifle, called for "free weapons for free citizens" and shot three times in the air.

Referring to the knife attack in Solingen, Müger declared: "You are no longer safe in German cities and must be afraid of being stabbed or otherwise murdered at a party or on the way home."

Müger could not be reached for comment by dpa.

According to an AfD spokesman, Müger explained that he "accidentally" published the video on TikTok for only a few minutes before deleting it but said the video was intended only 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 the regulations of Polish law," Müger continued.

But the video prompted outrage in Hesse.

The state's interior minister, Roman Poseck of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), denounced Müger for "legitimizing" the use of armed force against migrants.