Police Raid AfD Lawmaker Over Two-Year-Old Social Media Posts
Bavarian state deputy René Dierkes had his home and parliamentary office searched over memes and satirical posts his account shared two years ago, intensifying scrutiny of Germany's largest opposition party.
Officers knocked on René Dierkes' Munich door on a Friday morning. They carried a warrant listing posts from two years ago — memes and satirical comments scraped from social media. For the 34-year-old Bavarian state parliament deputy, that piece of paper meant a search of both his private home and his parliamentary office.
The March 13 raids mark the latest escalation in a mounting pattern of legal actions against Germany's largest opposition party. Dierkes, elected to the Bavarian Landtag in October 2023, now faces investigation for defamation, insult, incitement to hatred, and approval of crimes.
"The background is posts on my X account that are about two years old and were written by an employee who no longer works for me," Dierkes said in a statement posted on the platform.
The Munich I Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed the investigation. "At the home address and in the premises of the accused D in the Bavarian state parliament, search measures were carried out today," a spokesman said. Prosecutors are also examining an alleged insult from five years ago attributed to a former party member.
"These included 'memes and satirical comments' now under scrutiny for alleged incitement to hatred and defamation," Dierkes said — distancing himself from content he insists a departed staff member authored.
The legal mechanism that enabled the raid has drawn scrutiny of its own. Bavarian Landtag rules allow a simplified procedure for certain offenses, requiring only 48-hour notification to the Landtag President rather than a formal vote to lift parliamentary immunity. "The provisions for the simplified handling of immunity rights were observed," the prosecutor's office stated — a technicality that sidestepped the chamber Dierkes was elected to serve.
The raid did not emerge from nowhere. German constitutional protection authorities, the Verfassungsschutz, have monitored Dierkes since April 2025. The Bavarian state government justified that surveillance by citing statements promoting "an ethnic concept of the people contrary to human dignity" and "remigration in an unconstitutional manner," as reported by BR24 last year. Officials also pointed to his "significant reach on social media" — roughly 6,800 followers on X — as grounds for the watch.
Stephan Protschka, AfD state chairman in Bavaria, called the raids a humiliating decision by authorities against the opposition. His condemnation reflects a broader anger within the party as similar proceedings multiply.
The case is far from isolated. In late October, law enforcement raided the Berlin apartment of prominent publicist Norbert Bolz over an X post in which he satirically used a slogan attributed to the Nazi Party. Earlier that month, a pensioner received criminal charges for calling Chancellor Friedrich Merz a "Pinocchio." Each case has sharpened the debate over where the line falls between protected speech and criminal expression.
Dierkes adds another layer to his own case: he argues an internal party rival who previously sought public office launched "a defamation campaign against my person," suggesting the legal pressure carries a political dimension that reaches beyond the prosecutor's office.
At his private residence, "possible evidence was handed over." A full search swept through his parliamentary office. Authorities have disclosed no specifics about the alleged posts themselves — leaving Dierkes, his constituents, and a watching public to weigh the weight of a warrant built on content no one in authority will yet describe. "I will take action against this political witch hunt," he said. Whether the courts agree will define more than one man's fate.