German AfD Classified as Extremist by Intel Agency

Germany's domestic intelligence agency formally classified the Alternative for Germany as a right-wing extremist movement, meaning authorities will have enhanced powers to monitor the party as a potential threat to democracy.

- Bloomberg

BERLIN:

The judgment by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution "is based on an extremely careful expert review spanning approximately three years" that examined remarks by high-ranking AfD officials, according to a statement published Friday by Sinan Selen and Silke Willems, the office's co-vice presidents.

"Key to our assessment is the AfD's ethnic-based understanding of the people, which devalues entire population groups in Germany and violates their human dignity," they added. "This is reflected in the party's overall anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim stance."