The News
Far-right German party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has been designated as a right-wing extremist organisation by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.
“The ethnicity and ancestry-based understanding of the people prevailing within the party is incompatible with the free democratic order,” the Verfassungschutz said Friday, as it published a 1,100-page report on the party’s activities.
While the intelligence agency cannot ban the party, the designation could spark others to begin the process.
The AfD has recently enjoyed a surge in popularity and came second in February’s federal elections, winning a record 152 seats in the Bundestag.
Specifically, the AfD did not consider citizens of a “migration background from predominantly Muslim countries” as equal members of German society, the BBC reported.