title: German anti-immigrant candidate walks out of TV debate
text: BERLIN (Reuters) - One of the top candidates for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in this month s election walked out of a live television debate on Tuesday night after being accused of failing to distance herself from right-wingers. The right-wing AfD has gained support by slamming Chancellor Angela Merkel s 2015 decision to open the borders to refugees and is set to enter the national parliament for the first time after the Sept. 24 election. Polls put it on 7-11 percent. Alice Weidel, 38, collected her papers and rushed out of public broadcaster ZDF s studio during a debate with Germany s six other major parties after Andreas Scheuer, a member of  Merkel s conservative bloc, said she should distance herself from far-right figures in the AfD. Scheuer said Alexander Gauland, the AfD s other top candidate, was a  radical right-winger . Gauland has described Bjoern Hoecke, who in January called for a  180 degree turnaround  in the way Germany seeks to atone for Nazi crimes, as part of  the soul of the AfD . Weidel, who styles herself as an economic expert and critic of the euro, has gradually shifted to the right since being chosen as one of the party s chancellor candidates in April. She has called for Hoecke to be expelled from the party. In a statement published shortly after her exit, Weidel accused ZDF moderator Marietta Slomka of being biased and unprofessional:  Ms Slomka shouldn t act out her personal animosities in the television show,  she wrote. The AfD wants to abolish the license fees that finance Germany s public broadcasters. Weidel s statement ended with the comment that Slomka s behavior was  another reason to refuse to pay the license fee . It did not mention the dispute with Scheuer or a preceding fiery discussion on immigration. Some media speculated that Weidel s exit was set up, with Stern magazine s editor in chief Andreas Petzold writing on Twitter:  Alice Weidel s dramatically staged exit was certainly not spontaneous. This is how the AfD cultivates its role as a victim.  