The federal intelligence agency said that the populist political party aims to exclude certain population groups from ‘equal participation in society.’
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has officially classified the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as extremist.
Having regarded the AfD as a suspected extremist movement since 2021, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), on May 2 designated the populist party as “right-wing extremist”, following an “intensive and comprehensive expert examination.”
This means that intelligence services now have the right to keep it under surveillance.
BfV said in a statement that AfD’s approach to ethnicity is “not compatible with the free democratic basic order.”
According to BfV’s statement, AfD does not consider German nationals with a migration background from Muslim-origin countries as equal members of the German people.
BfV Vice President Sinan Selen and Vice President Dr. Silke Willems in a joint statement said: “We have come to the conviction that the Alternative for Germany is a definitively right-wing extremist movement.”
Certain factions of the AfD such as its youth wing had already been classified extremist.
A survey by Ipsos in March showed the AfD party topped the polls for the first time.
The Epoch Times has contacted AfD for comment.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
