German Spy Agency Officially Classifies AfD Party as ‘Extremist'
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
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
A survey by Ipsos in
The Epoch Times has contacted AfD for comment.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
3 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
University of Michigan drops private security after reports of surveillance
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan said it's cutting ties with a private security company that was accused of following pro-Palestinian activists on and off campus. The university said it found the actions of one security company employee 'disturbing, unacceptable and unethical.' It did not elaborate. 'Going forward, we are terminating all contracts with external vendors to provide plainclothes security on campus,' President Domenico Grasso said in a statement Sunday. In a Guardian story last week, students said they were surveilled around Ann Arbor. The news outlet posted video from a member of a Muslim group who decided to confront a man who was watching him from a car last summer. That man in turn yelled and accused him of trying to steal his wallet. Tensions have been high between the university and pro-Palestinian student groups. A student encampment stood for a month on campus last year before authorities shut it down citing safety issues. Seven people were charged with felonies related to the encampment's removal, though charges were dropped in May. The university, which has campus police, said it hired private security about a year ago to report suspicious activity in high-traffic areas, not to perform surveillance. 'No individual or group should ever be targeted for their beliefs or affiliations,' Grasso said.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Chicago among cities with Monday rallies in protest of Calif. National Guard deployment
CHICAGO (WGN) — Immigrant, civil rights and labor groups in more than a dozen US cities on Monday, including Chicago, held rallies in protest of the new phase in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. President Donald Trump over the weekend federalized the California National Guard after protestors and law enforcement faced off in Los Angeles. The rising tension follows last week's immigration crackdown in Chicago, in which advocates accused Chicago police of assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, a claim the department denies. 'What we saw last week and over the weekend wasn't lawful enforcement it was a belligerent power grab,' Rep. Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia said at a Monday rally at Daley Plaza. 'This isn't about safety. This is about control. Fear is the tactic. Silence is the goal. This is not about immigration. This is about domination of all of our communities.' What to know about Trump's deployment of National Guard troops California governor to sue Trump over National Guard deployments ICE arrests at Chicago immigration building spark protest; advocates speak out The event in Chicago coincided with planned rallies from coast to coast, including Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Boston. 'Their tactic to incite violence is clearly intentional and it creates a moment that Trump will certainly exploit to enact even more harm,' said Lawrence Benito, CEO of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Groups gathered Monday also spoke out against Trump's extensive new travel ban barring nationals of 12 countries from entering the U.S. The ban mostly affects countries in Africa and the Middle East. The president made the final call on signing the order following the June 1 antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado. 'We must be clear that this is undeniably rooted in anti-Muslim, anti-Black … racism,' said Nadiah Alyafai with the Arab American Action Network. In Washington, House Republicans are set to grill three blue state governors about their cooperation with ICE. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is set to testify Thursday along with the governors of New York and Minnesota. As first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, a source tells WGN-TV that Pritzker has retained a Washington, D.C. law firm to help him prep, paying for the services out of his own pocket. He's also getting a hand from a former White House counsel to President Joe Biden. A Pritzker spokesman says the governor will show that the Illinois TRUST Act is fully compliant with federal law. The law, signed by Republican Bruce Rauner, enables people regardless of immigration status to report crime and call emergency services. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Some visitors report extra scrutiny at US airports as Trump's new travel ban begins
'They asked us where we work, how many children we have, if we have had any problems with the law, how we are going to afford the cost of this travel, how many days we will stay here,' said Aguilar, who along with her husband was visiting their son for the first time since he left Guatemala 22 years ago. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up She said they were released about an hour after their flight landed, greeting their waiting family members in Florida with tears of relief. Guatemala is not among the countries included in the new ban or flagged for extra travel restrictions. Advertisement The new proclamation that Trump signed last week applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa. Advertisement The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all US diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travelers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the U.S. even after the ban takes effect. Narayana Lamy, a Haitian citizen who works for his home country's government, said he was told to wait after showing his passport and tourist visa Monday at the Miami airport while a US official confirmed by phone that he was allowed into the country to visit family members. Luis Hernandez, a Cuban citizen and green card holder who has lived in the U.S. for three years, said he had no problems returning Monday to Miami after a weekend visiting family in Cuba. 'They did not ask me anything,' Hernandez said. 'I only showed my residency card.' During Trump's first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy. Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process. Trump said this time that some countries had 'deficient' screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the United States after their visas expired. Advertisement Trump also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colo., saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. US officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, which isn't on Trump's restricted list. The ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees. 'This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,' said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization. Haiti's transitional presidential council said in a statement that the ban 'is likely to indiscriminately affect all Haitians' and that it hopes to persuade the U.S. to drop Haiti from the list of banned countries. In Venezuela, some visa holders changed US travel plans last week to get ahead of Trump's restrictions. For those without visas, the new restrictions may not matter much. Since Venezuela and the U.S. severed diplomatic relations in 2019, Venezuelans have had to travel to neighboring South American countries to obtain US visas. José Luis Vegas, a tech worker in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, said his uncle gave up on renewing an expired US visa because it was already difficult before the restrictions. 'Paying for hotels and tickets was very expensive, and appointments took up to a year,' Vegas said.
