German domestic intelligence on Wednesday declared another regional branch of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization, just days after slapping the label on the national party.
According to the interior minister of Brandenburg, an eastern state that surrounds Berlin, state intelligence already upgraded the assessment of the AfD Brandenburg branch from suspected to confirmed right-wing extremist on April 14.
But Katrin Lange said she had only been notified of the change on Monday, criticizing the delay. She dismissed the head of the regional intelligence service, Jörg Müller, on Tuesday, telling the committee for interior affairs in the state parliament, the he was let go due to a lack of trust for not informing her – and the public – of the changed assessment.
Last week, Germany’s national domestic intelligence agency designated the AfD, the biggest opposition party in parliament, as a confirmed “right-wing extremist” organization that “disregards human dignity” and threatens democracy.
The new classification, which gives the agency broader surveillance power over the AfD, is the result of a comprehensive review, the findings of which are laid out in a 1,100-page internal report.
It came just days before Germany’s new conservative-led government took office under Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday.
The agency, called the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said there was concrete evidence that the party pursues efforts that threaten Germany’s democratic order, pointing to its anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Specifically, it said the far-right AfD considers German citizens with roots in predominantly Muslim countries to be unequal citizens.
The Brandenburg AfD is the fourth regional branch to be classified as a confirmed right-wing extremist group, following the state organizations in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, all fellow former East German states, where the AfD has seen the most support.
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