Germany's AfD harbours growing number of extremists: spy agency
Last month, Germany's domestic spy agency classified the party as "extremist" and stepped up monitoring.
Germany’s biggest opposition party the Alternative for Germany is harbouring a growing number of right-wing extremists, the domestic spy agency said in its annual report, reporting also a surge in overall crime motivated by right-wing extremism.
The number of extremists within the AfD, which came second in a federal election in February, rose by 77 percent last year to 20,000 in tandem with a growth in party membership and its shift rightwards, the agency said on Tuesday.
The agency last month classified the party at large as “extremist” on the basis of a 1,100-page experts’ report enabling it to step up monitoring of the AfD, although the party has legally challenged this.
Party statements frequently included xenophobic and anti-Muslim positions, with migrants from predominantly Islamic countries often accused of cultural incompatibility and a strong inclination towards criminal behaviour, the agency said.
AfD leaders frequently made statements that could be considered to attack the constitution during state election campaigns in eastern Germany last year - and mostly were not reined in by the party, the agency said.
It cited the leader of the AfD in Thuringia, Bjoern Hoecke, who at a campaign event in August said the election could “lead to the implosion of the cartel party system” and “finally bring about something that is a true democracy”.
Crime motivated by right-wing extremism in Germany jumped 47.4 percent last year, including six attempted murders up from four in 2023 and 23 cases of arson up from 16, the agency said.