German activists sold a far-right party millions of fake election flyers A court battle could be next

“Reliable, on time and inexpensive”: That’s what the flier company promoting its printing and delivery services promised. Germany’s far-right party was sold.

The website looked so real, as did its director’s LinkedIn page, that the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, bought truckloads of campaign fliers to be distributed to voters ahead of the country’s federal election.

But before polls opened on Sunday, heaps of leaflets showed up at the party’s offices instead. The orchestrators of the ploy have now revealed themselves as activists protesting far-right politics. In the face of a looming legal battle with the AfD, which pledged to go after them, they have already crowdfunded100,000 euros.

The art collective, the Center for Political Beauty which has targeted politicians for fueling rhetoric against refugees or downplaying Holocaust remembrance, said on Tuesday it had posed as a service offering to work with the AfD ahead of the vote.

Its fake business â€" which the activists now describe as “the world market leader in not distributing Nazi fliers” â€" got orders “worth millions” for 5 million fliers. They have since collected the remaining leaflets, which they called “72 tons of AfD rubbish.”

Ahead of the election race that came at the end of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 16 years in power, all political factions in Germany had ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD.

The party stormed into parliament, or the Bundestag, four years ago with its hard line anti-immigrant stance. It whipped up nationalist support during the migrant surge when Merkel opened the doors to more than 1 million refugees, mainly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans in a landmark decision. Now, the party also promises to fight covid-19 rules.

An AfD spokesman confirmed it would file a criminal complaint over the flier prank. “In fact, there can be no talk of an ‘art action’,” he told The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, in under 24 hours, the activists have raised funds they say will also help recycle the fliers they collected. Fans who donate can get lighters and T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the company that doesn’t exist â€" “Flyerservice Hahn” â€" which also purported on its website to have started as a family business.

“Unfortunately, our only customer is extremely angry,” they wrote. “Help us to defend artistic freedom.”

Their provocative stunts have drawn attention, and drama before. Four years ago, the activists built a small copy of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial outside the windows of an AfD politician who triggered outrage after suggesting Germany should stop atoning for Nazi crimes.

Sofia Diogo Mateus contributed to this report.

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