The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been classified as “right-wing extremist” by the country’s internal security agency.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) had already classified the AfD’s branches in three states in the east of Germany as “right-wing extremist” but has now classified the entire party under this label.
The classification prompted a terse social media exchange between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the German Foreign Office.
Criticising the classification, Rubio wrote in a post on X: “That’s not democracy − it’s tyranny in disguise.” But the German Foreign Office hit back, directly replying on Rubio’s X account: “This is democracy.” Berlin said the decision had been made after a “thorough and independent investigation” and could be appealed, adding: “We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped.”
In the recent German election, the AfD was the second-most-popular party with 20% of the vote. In current polling it is now the most popular party in the country.
According to the BBC, the BfV said that the AfD’s “prevailing understanding of people based on ethnicity and descent” went against the country’s “free, democratic order”.
The party’s leaders, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, said that the decision was a “severe blow” to German democracy.
The new classification of the party means that authorities now have greater powers to monitor the party through surveillance, such as phone tapping and the use of undercover agents.
The new designation has also led to increased calls to ban the AfD.
[Image: https://www.heute.at/i/polit-beben-afd-laut-umfrage-erstmals-staerkste-kraft-120101744/doc-1iod1rok11]