Merz and Weidel clash in German parliament after AfD's Saxony-Anhalt win

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused the AfD of destabilizing the country in a heated Bundestag debate, three days after the party's landslide win in Saxony-Anhalt. AfD leader Alice Weidel countered that the black-red coalition is finished. Merz attacked the AfD for "contempt of democratic institutions" and "permanent denigration of state representatives," while Weidel said voters had clearly signaled "Schwarz-Rot ist vorbei." Bundestag President Julia Klöckner twice reprimanded AfD lawmakers for interruptions, threatening to expel them from the chamber. The AfD won 43.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt, more than doubling its 2021 result, while the CDU fell to 17.2 percent. Merz accused the AfD of seeking "ethnic cleansing" through its "remigration" concept and dismissed its coalition ambitions. The Greens called for examining an AfD ban.