Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV on Friday classified the right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party as an extremist entity that threatens democracy.
This classification makes it easier for authorities to use covert surveillance methods against the party that has long been demonised by the German establishment. The label of extremism could also make it difficult for AfD to recruit news members.
BfV justified the move by stating that “The ethnicity- and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order,” claiming that the party “aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, to subject them to treatment that violates the constitution, and thereby assign them a legally subordinate status.” BfV specifically mentioning immigrants of Muslim origin as a “population group.”
Analysts, however, said the decision may further fuel support for the AfD. The party has in fact already overtaken the CDU in the polls recently.
