Germany's far-right AfD party classified as extremist group by domestic intelligence agency
THE FAR-RIGHT ALTERNATIVE for Germany party has been labelled a right-wing extremist group by the country's domestic intelligence agency, a designation that has once again raised questions about whether the party should be banned.
The agency, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said in a statement today that the decision had been made due to 'the extremist nature of the entire party, which disregards human dignity'.
Some regional branches of the AfD had already been classified as extremist groups but until today the party as a whole had only been considered a suspected extremist entity.
The AfD's co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla have said in a statement that their party is 'being publicly discredited and criminalised', and that the decision was 'clearly politically motivated'.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser insisted there had been 'no political influence' on the investigations undertaken by the independent BfV.
In its statement, the BfV said the classification had been made following an extensive three-year investigation into conduct and speech of prominent party members, which included efforts 'to undermine the free democratic basic order'.
It cited in particular the 'xenophobic, anti-minority, Islamophobic and anti-Muslim statements made by leading party officials'.
The statement added: 'The party's prevailing understanding of the people based on ethnicity and descent is incompatible with the free democratic basic order.'
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The BfV said the AfD aims 'to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, subject them to unconstitutional discrimination, and thus assign them a legally devalued status'.
Specifically, the agency said the AfD 'does not consider German citizens with a migration history from predominantly Muslim countries to be equal members of the German people, as defined ethnically by the party'.
Ahead of federal elections earlier this year, in which the party came second with just over 20% of the vote, Weidel endorsed an extremist policy called 'remigration', which is popular among far-right extremist groups across Europe.
'Remigration' is a plan to ethnically cleanse Europe of non-white people – including citizens and legal residents – through mass deportation and expulsion. Such a policy would violate the German constitution.
Following
Correctiv's exposure of a secret meeting
in January where right-wing extremists discussed plans to implement the policy in Germany, which was attended by high-profile AfD members, France's far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen cut ties with the AfD in the EU Parliament.
With reporting from AFP
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