Decision allows authorities to expand surveillance on subtitles, including with monitoring private communications; Party promises to resort
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Internal Intelligence Service of the, classified this Friday (2) the alternative party for Germany () as an “right-wing extremist” movement. The decision allows authorities to expand surveillance on the subtitle, including with monitoring of private communications. According to the agency, the ideology of AFD “devalues integer groups of the population in Germany and attentive against their human dignity”, which makes it “incompatible with the fundamental democratic order” of the country. The party, founded in 2013, had significant growth in the last legislative elections in February, reaching more than 20% of the votes and consolidating itself as the second largest political force in the country.
The measure generated international criticism. The US Diplomacy Chief said in Network X that the decision represents a “disguised tyranny” and accused the German government of using intelligence to watch over the opposition. The billionaire also criticized the classification, saying that banning AFD would be “an extreme attack on democracy.” The US Vice President was even more incisive. He compared the situation to the reconstruction of the Berlin Wall, accusing the “German stablishment” of undermining democratic freedoms.
In response, Germany’s Foreign Ministry defended the decision in English, also in Network X: “This is democracy. Our history taught us that we need to stop right -wing extremism.” AFD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla classified the measure as a “hard blow to democracy” and promised to challenge what they called “dangerous defamations.”
The federal office had already placed under surveillance youth wings and regional branches of AFD, especially in the former East Germany. The new classification rekindles the debate on a possible illegalization of the party, which maintains a stance strongly contrary to migrants and Muslims, according to the intelligence body.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Felipe Cerqueira
