Germany designates AfD regional party 'extremist'

Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Tuesday announced that it had classified the regional association of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt as a proven extremist group.

The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is the second state association of the party to be categorized in this way. 

What we know so far

The agency said it had assessed numerous statements from functionaries and elected officials of the far-right party, as anti-Muslim, antisemitic, and racist before making the assessment. 

The AfD's Saxony-Anhalt branch has been under formal suspicion of far-right extremism since 2021. 

BfV head Jochen Hollmann said his organization had gathered extensive information that showed the association's values were incompatible with human dignity, democracy, and the rule of law.

"The regional association not only continues to hold anti-constitutional positions that led to its classification as a suspected case, but has also become radicalized to such an extent since the coronavirus pandemic that systematic observation using intelligence service means is justified."

The designation gives the BfV broader authority when it comes to surveilling the party at the state level. Hollmann said it also allows the agency to systematically collect related personal data.

The classification takes all restrictions off the BfV when it comes to collecting intelligence on extremists within the AfD. It also lowers the threshold for the use of undercover agents and phone surveillance.

The AfD dream of a 'homogenous ethnocultural nation' 

The Saxony-Anhalt AfD aspires to create a "homogenous ethnocultural national population" and exclude others on the basis of race or religion, according to the BfV.

The party also aspires to, "do away with parliamentary democracy in its current form."  

BfV boss Hollmann explained that the party actively applies itself to making politics and civic institutions appear ridiculous in a ploy to erode confidence in them. After achieving that aim, investigators say the party wants to, "take away the rights of entire social groups and subject them to despotism."    

The AfD wants "to destroy our trust in democracy and its institutions," said state SPD parliamentarian Rüdiger Erben, adding, "The state must be capable of identifying the threat and protecting us from it — that is exactly what this designation enables."

"There is no doubt that the Saxony-Anhalt AfD is a right-wing extremist organization — it's good that it has now been officially stated," said state Green Sebastian Siegel.  

Not an isolated case

In March 2021, the regional party in the neighboring state of Thuringia was designated a far-right extremist group, along with its notorious firebrand leader Björn Höcke.

At the national level, the BfV classifies the AfD as being suspected of far-right extremism although the youth wing, Young Alternative for Germany, is classified as extremist. 

Created in 2013, the AfD began as an anti-euro party in the midst of the euro crisis, before becoming a staunchly anti-immigrant outfit in the midst of the 2015 refugee crisis. 

It also latched on to frustrations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and has regularly stoked fear and spread conspiracy theories. Its leaders routinely make headlines using Nazi language, trafficking in antisemitic tropes, denying the Holocaust and trivializing Germany's Nazi past.  

Both Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt are in eastern Germany, where the AfD has garnered its most steadfast support. Recently, however, the party won a substantial portion of the vote in western German state elections.

In nationwide polling the AfD is currently the second-strongest party in Germany — outpacing all three of the parties in the country's governing coalition. 

js,rc/jcg (AFP, dpa, Reuters, epd)

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