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Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said on Friday it has designated the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization.<\/p>\n
The agency, called the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said there was now concrete evidence that the anti-immigrant party founded in 2013 pursues efforts that threaten Germany’s democratic order.<\/p>\n
“The party’s prevailing understanding of the people based on ethnicity and descent is incompatible with the free democratic basic order,” the agency said.<\/p>\n
Statements and positions by the party and leading AfD representatives violate the constitutional principle of the inviolability of human dignity, stated the agency’s vice presidents, Sinan Selen and Silke Willems.<\/p>\n
The AfD, which soared to a second-place finish in last year’s general election, previously held “suspected” extremist status by the agency. The party unsuccessfully challenged that designation in court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n