Germany's second party classed as 'extremist'

THE German domestic intelligence service has classified the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which placed second in national elections in February, as a “right-wing extremist effort”.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERS

This will make AfD subject to greater and broader surveillance of its activities.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution found that the party does not consider people with “a migration history from predominantly Muslim countries to be equal members of the German people” based on ethnicity.

The office, which has warned of growing extremism in Germany, cited court decisions in two German regions in recent years that detailed party efforts to undermine a free and democratic order.

The party “aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, to subject them to unconstitutional unequal treatment and thus to assign them a legally devalued status”, it said.

Germany's move to classify the AfD as a right-wing extremist group means its officials can now use informants and other tools such as audio and video recordings to monitor its activities nationwide.