It is a step that does not come as a complete surprise, not even for the AfD itself: in Bavaria, the entire party is now being observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The national association wants to fight back.
The AfD is now also being observed in Bavaria as a whole party by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. A spokesman for the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday that the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution had started monitoring the AfD. The “Münchner Merkur” and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reported on it. “This serves to clarify the extent to which there are efforts in the AfD as a whole party that are trying to impair or eliminate the core of the Basic Law,” said the spokesman. However, the members of the AfD parliamentary group are not under observation because the requirements developed by the Federal Constitutional Court for the observation of MPs have not yet been met. The Bavarian AfD announced that it would take legal action.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and also individual state authorities have already listed the AfD as a suspected case. A complaint by the AfD against the classification by the Federal Office was decided in the first instance in favor of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and the party has appealed. The Thuringian AfD is observed by the local Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a secured right-wing extremist effort. In Bavaria, only the youth organization of the AfD, the “Junge Alternative”, and any follow-up activities of the officially dissolved right-wing “wing” had been observed. Now the Bavarian AfD is also monitored as a party as a whole.
A spokesman for the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution explained that if there were “sufficiently weighty factual indications of extremist efforts,” the state office would have “basically all the intelligence means available by law” as permitted by a Federal Constitutional Court decision and the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Act . These include informants, observations or telephone surveillance.
“AfD not yet classified as proven extremist”
However, the spokesman emphasized the following: “In the context of proportionality, it must be taken into account that the AfD has not yet been classified as proven extremist.” This means that not all possible measures are automatically allowed at all times.
The AfD announced that the state board was well prepared for this case and had been in contact with its lawyers since the beginning of the year. “This is clearly a politically motivated observation,” said state chairman Stephan Protschka. The CSU is trying “to use the protection of the constitution as a kind of domestic secret service against us”. Together with the lawyers, the report by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution will be studied closely “and legal action will be taken against it,” Protschka announced.
Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) called the observation of the Bavarian AfD by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution “absolutely correct”. This is a decision by the competent authority, which acts politically independently according to the risk situation. “If this decision is made, I think you’re absolutely right. The AfD is taking a tendency far beyond the democratic spectrum. It’s becoming more right-wing, radical and aggressive from month to month,” said the CSU boss. “I believe that the AfD in Bavaria is a particularly tough, right-wing club that tends to be right-wing radicals.”
Schulze: “Emergency braking at the last second”
The Greens parliamentary group leader in the Bavarian state parliament, Katharina Schulze, said: “The entire AfD in Bavaria is right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and is dominated by its right wing. It is a threat to internal security.” It is more than overdue that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution observe them. This was “an emergency stop at the last second”.
Florian Ritter, spokesman for the Bavarian SPD parliamentary group in the fight against right-wing extremism, said: “A full observation of the Bavarian AfD by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been necessary for a long time.” National, anti-democratic and racist positions have long been represented in the AfD Bayern.
AfD parliamentary group leader Ulrich Singer said of his party’s observation: “With this step, the Söder government is showing what it thinks of democracy, freedom of expression and pluralism. Obviously not much, because otherwise it would not use such methods against a democratic opposition party. ” However, don’t be intimidated. A mere observation also does not mean categorization as an extremist party. “The AfD stands on the ground of the Basic Law,” said Singer. The government’s “campaign” will be resolutely opposed.
Source: Stern
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