(Bloomberg) -- The Alternative for Germany lost ground in a new opinion poll, further evidence that a series of recent controversies is eroding support for the far-right party.

Backing for the AfD fell by two percentage points to 14% in a monthly Allensbach poll for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published Friday, after rising as high as 19.5% in January.

The main opposition conservatives held steady in first place on 32.5%, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats second on 17.5%, up from 16%. The Greens also slipped two points and are fourth on 13%.

The most-recent setback for the AfD came on Thursday, when it was expelled from the Identity and Democracy Group in the European Parliament over the behavior of Maximilian Krah, its lead candidate in next month’s EU elections.

Krah was quoted last week by Italian newspaper la Repubblica as saying that not all members of the Nazi SS paramilitary organization were criminals.

He was already in the spotlight after an assistant was detained last month suspected of spying for China. On Wednesday, he stepped down from the AfD leadership committee and said he won’t take part in any more campaign events before the June 6-9 vote.

Read More: Why Eyes Are on the Far Right in European Elections: QuickTake

Support for the AfD rose as high as 23% in some polls late last year and it’s still the most-popular party in three eastern German regions that will hold elections in September.

The party’s success fueled concerns about extremism in Germany, and prompted prominent business leaders to warn about potential damage to the nation’s image that could repel investors.  

Police said earlier Friday they’ve launched an investigation after a video circulated on social media apparently showing young revelers at a fashionable nightclub on the island of Sylt singing right-wing extremist lyrics and making the Hitler salute.

The incidents took place last weekend and inquiries into possible public incitement and use of banned phrases are focusing on the people who appeared in the video, police in nearby Flensburg in the northern region of Schleswig-Holstein said in a statement.

“It cannot be ruled out that additional suspects who were not shown in this video will be identified as part of the investigation,” they added.

Asked about the case, Scholz said there should be no room for doubt that the use of the words in the video is unacceptable.

“Clearly, such slogans are disgusting,” he said at a news conference in Berlin after talks with his Portuguese counterpart. “And that is why it is right that all our activities are aimed precisely at preventing this from spreading.”

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said anyone using banned Nazi slogans such as “Germany for the Germans” or calling for the expulsion of foreigners, as seen in the video, is “a disgrace” to the country.

“There must be no creeping normalization here,” Faeser was quoted as saying by the Funke media group. “That’s why the loud outcry we’re seeing now is important.”

--With assistance from Karin Matussek.

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