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BERLIN (AP) — A European Parliament faction that includes Britain's governing party has ejected a lawmaker from the nationalist Alternative for Germany, which has drawn criticism over members' remarks suggesting that police could shoot refugees trying to enter Germany.
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won seven European Parliament seats in 2014. Five lawmakers left for a new and more moderate party, ALFA, but it failed to gain significant support while AfD's ratings have soared amid the influx of migrants to Europe.
The European Conservatives and Reformists group had asked AfD's two remaining lawmakers to leave the group last month. One of them, Beatrix von Storch, left for a Euroskeptic group that includes the U.K. Independence Party.
The other lawmaker, Marcus Pretzell, confirmed late Tuesday he had been voted out of the ECR group.
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