A video that emerged online on Tuesday, shows a group of young men in black jackets shouting “People’s traitors!” at the vice-chancellor and his aides while holding placards reading “Who betrayed us? Social Democrats!”
Gabriel then tries to bring his angry staff to reason, smiles and all of a sudden gives his middle finger to the far-right protesters.
Accompanied by his staff, Gabriel turns his back and slowly walks away.
The incident happened on Friday in the town of Salzgitter, central Germany, where Gabriel had come to support the Social Democrats’ electoral event.
“Man, your father loved his country, and what are you doing? You’re destroying it!” they yell, referring to Gabriel’s father, who was a member of NSDAP party until 1945.
In mid-June, Gabriel gave a stunning interview to several German newspapers, telling reporters that “I’ve already heard everything what they [the far-right] say from my father, who was a Nazi until his last breath.
“There’re people … who want the old West Germany of 1960s back, where women sit at home, gays and lesbians are unseen and old Wehrmacht songs are being sung in beer bars,” he claimed, according to Die Welt. “Terrible.”
The video has been uploaded by a group called ‘Antifa Kampfausbildung’, or ‘Antifa Combat Training’, who said the far-right youngsters belonged to a youth wing of National Democratic Party (NPD), founded in early 1960s by former Nazi party members and Hitler’s military officers.
In Germany, NPD is often viewed as a neo-Nazi party, given its openly-racist agenda and uneven appellation to the Third Reich’s history.
Gabriel, in turn, is accused of supporting Angela Merkel’s refugee policy and promoting the so-called ‘welcome culture’.Earlier, he insisted the successful integration of migrants into German society only favors the country’s diversity, sparking a barrage of criticism from the far-right.
