German spy agency to investigate anti-Islam, anti-immigration leading opposition party

Supporters of the nationalist Alternative for Germany AfD celebrate after the state election in the German state of Hesse in Wiesbaden, western Germany, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. (Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa via AP)

Germany’s domestic spy agency will probe the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) to determine the prevalence of right-wing extremism within the party.

The agency has classified the AfD, the country’s main opposition party, as a “case to investigate,” according to the agency’s 450-page report reviewed by Berlin newspaper Der Tagespiegel. The report notes that it won’t include surveillance.

The investigation confirmed the fears of some AfD officials who warned that the party may be under the radar of the domestic intelligence agency over its anti-Islam and anti-immigration views.

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André Poggenburg, a politician who left the party and founded a new far-right party, recently criticized the AfD for becoming increasingly left-wing amid fears of being under surveillance by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.

Germany’s constitution, adopted after World War II, allows the government to curb extremist ideologies by closely monitoring or even banning far-left or far-right parties, according to Reuters.

The German newspaper claims the intelligence agency will look into public statements made by the members of the party and scrutinize the ties to the far-right Identitarian Movement that has been accused of being a front for white nationalism in Europe and is being monitored by the government.

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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas alluded to the report in a tweet, but suggested the far-right party’s ideas should be challenged rather than shut down by the government.

“Whoever discriminates against people on the basis of their origins is being racist and nationalist. Parts of the AfD are a case for the domestic intelligence office,” he wrote. “But observing them won't solve the problems. Above all we need to deal with the AfD objectively and politically.”

A number of German states announced last year that they are probing local chapters of the party, including its youth wing over ties to extremism. In the state of Thuringia, an investigation was prompted after an AfD leader said Germany's main memorial to Holocaust victims as a “monument of shame,” according to Reuters.

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Since the party’s historic gains both statewide and nationally following the migrant crisis in 2015 that resulted in Germany welcoming one million refugees, the AfD split four times, with some prominent members dissatisfied with the direction of the party.