Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Lena Kotré has rejected accusations that a remigration conference she attended in Oslo at the weekend was linked to extremism or ethnic cleansing. Writing in response to an article in Norway’s leading daily Aftenposten, she said the newspaper’s framing of the event was driven by “political hatred and targeted disinformation.”
Kotré, who had to be escorted away from parts of the Norwegian capital by authorities after facing threats from left-wing activists and migrant groups, said the Norway Democrats’ conference was a legitimate political gathering. She described it as a forum where citizens, politicians, and intellectuals discussed “solutions to problems systematically suppressed by established politics.”
BREAKING: 🇩🇪❕ AfD politician @KotreLena has had to be evacuated from a meeting with Norwegian politicians in central Oslo ahead of a Remigration conference on Saturday.
"There has been a development where we felt compelled to evacuate the Norway Democrats and the German… pic.twitter.com/jUiLAzZrHw
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 15, 2025“The claim that the Norway Democrats conference was a matter of ‘ethnic cleansing’ is not only wrong – it is malicious,” Kotré wrote. “Whoever writes like this doesn’t want to inform – they want to scare.”
The AfD lawmaker compared the controversy in Oslo to what she called the “fabricated scandal” around the so-called Potsdam meeting in Germany last year. That meeting was reported by investigative outlet Correctiv as involving secret discussions of mass deportations, something Kotré said had been “proven false” and weaponized to launch “a political extermination campaign.”
She argued the same tactic was now being deployed in Norway, using “insinuations, guilt by association, and perfidious terms like ‘terror cells’ or ‘neo-Nazi friends'” to delegitimize debate.
Kotré insisted that remigration is not a code word for violence but “a political term for orderly return measures.” She outlined the policy as including the return of people without residence permits, the closure of failed integration projects, and the safeguarding of national identity and social stability. “This is not ‘purification,’ but political pragmatism,” she said, adding that “no other people in the world are labelled extremists when they demand to preserve their identity.”
🇩🇪 German police are bringing Muslim on rock climbing "field trips" to "break down prejudices," while ethnic German teens get nothing.
German AfD MP @KotreLena says it's primarily Muslim youths that are the reason why "German young people are basically dominated and oppressed.… pic.twitter.com/1HL3KsTUQ1
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 19, 2024The Aftenposten article by journalist Lasse Josephsen was headlined, “We must understand what is happening: The Norwegian Democrats’ conference is about ethnic cleansing in Europe.” Kotré said such language aimed to “morally forbid” debate on migration and integration, branding it a strategy of intimidation that would not succeed.
Positioning herself and other participants as defenders of free speech, she said: “Those who want to ban remigration in general do not want to protect democracy – but to abolish the opposition.”
Closing her op-ed in Norwegian online magazine Document, Kotré wrote, “I attended this conference not in secret, not in hiding – but publicly, with an open face to speak, listen, discuss. And I stand by all who, despite the media storm, have the courage to hold on to the truth. Oslo spoke. Europe listened.”
