Germany’s far-right AfD harbours growing number of extremists: Spy agency

BERLIN - Germany’s biggest opposition party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is harbouring a growing number of right-wing extremists, the domestic spy agency said in its annual report on June 10, 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 per cent in 2024 to 20,000 in tandem with a growth in party membership and its shift rightwards, the agency said.

The agency in May

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 on June 10.

AfD leaders frequently made statements that could be considered to attack the Constitution during state election campaigns in eastern Germany in 2024 – and mostly were not reined in by the party, the agency said.

It cited the leader of the AfD in Thuringia, Mr 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 per cent in 2024, including six attempted murders up from 4 in 2023 and 23 cases of arson up from 16, the agency said. REUTERS