Germany’s AfD party drifting to extreme right, intelligence chief warns

BERLIN (AA) - The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is drifting too far to the right, the country’s domestic intelligence chief warned on Wednesday.

Thomas Haldenwang told local media that radical figures like Bjorn Hocke, who is known for his anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric, have gained more influence within the right-wing party this year.

"We hardly notice any more figures that are trying to force extremist tendencies out of the party,” Haldenwang told the German press agency DPA, pointing out that a lot of moderate politicians resigned from the party in recent months.

He said while the AfD’s party headquarters had been careful about its public image by refraining from using far-right rhetoric, the radicalization was evident in its local branches.

“At the national level, they refrain from making far-right statements. But xenophobic, antisemitic and inhumane statements become more visible, as one takes a closer look into the party structures,” he said.

The country’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, placed the right-wing AfD under observation last year, after authorities concluded that there were “sufficient indications” of anti-constitutional goals within the party.

Critics accuse the AfD of fueling xenophobia and anti-Muslim racism in Germany, which led to a rise in extremist violence in recent years.

The AfD gained popularity during the refugee crisis in 2015 and entered the parliament for the first time in 2017, taking more than 12% of the vote. The party is currently polling at around 13%.

- Foiled coup plot

Earlier this month, the German police said they have foiled a far-right coup plot and arrested nearly two dozen of right-wing extremists, including former AfD politicians and active party members.

Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former lawmaker of the AfD, was among the suspects and she was picked up as the justice minister of the coup regime.

Most of the suspects of the coup plot were followers of the far-right Reichsburger (Reich Citizens) movement, who reject the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany and believe that the country is governed by members of a so-called “deep state.”