Overview
- Tommy Thormann filmed and uploaded an Instagram video from the new Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern Landtag in which he makes a hand gesture while in the plenary chamber.
- The Bayerische Informationsstelle gegen Extremismus (BIGE) and several reports say the gesture has been used by right‑wing extremists to mean “White Power,” though the sign also has benign uses such as the scuba‑diving “OK” sign.
- Linke leader Hennis Herbst has written to Landtag president Birgit Hesse asking the presidium to examine the incident and consider a reprimand.
- The SPD has demanded Thormann’s immediate exclusion from the AfD parliamentary group while the AfD defends the gesture as non‑political and rejects calls for sanctions.
- The episode compounds scrutiny of Thormann because of earlier provocative incidents and will test how the SPD‑Linke‑Green presidium enforces conduct rules for the AfD in opposition.