The intelligence agency in Brandenburg is putting a regional branch of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party under surveillance, the state Interior Ministry confirmed Monday.
The ministry said the decision to put the branch under surveillance was taken after much deliberation.
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The move was prompted after the AfD in Brandenburg voted to keep Andreas Kalbitz, a member who had been expelled by the national party, as its regional chief. The branch’s decision caused a rift within the party.
The Interior Ministry said it would provide more information on the development later on Monday.
Expelled for membership in banned party
Formally, the Brandenburg case has listed the situation as a “suspected case and an object of surveillance,” meaning the intelligence agency cannot yet make use of all available surveillance measures.
AfD leaders had previously voted to expel Kalbitz from the party because of his former membership in the now-banned right-wing extremist group Heimattreue Deutsche Jugende (HDJ, or German Youth Faithful to the Homeland).
But that proved controversial within the party, particularly in Brandenburg. The regional chapter went so far as to change local party statutes so that the 47-year-old could remain a member of the regional party despite his expulsion on a national level.
Kalbitz is currently fighting the national party’s decision in court.
Kalbitz is a close ally of the head of the party in Thuringia, Björn Höcke. Together, the two held sway in the “Wing,” the extremist segment of the party that drew the attention of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. Under pressure from the AfD’s executive committee, the “Wing” voted to dissolve itself in March.
The AfD received a surge of support in general elections in 2017, which made it the country’s third-strongest party and the largest opposition force in Germany’s parliament.
A ‘nationalist and racist party’
Brandenburg’s interior minister Michael Stübgen spoke out in favor of the decision. Since its foundation, the AfD has become increasingly radicalized, and parts of it are connected to radical right-wing organizations, he said.
Germany’s business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) also welcomed the move. FDP parliamentary chairman Benjamin Strasser said the decision to observe the Brandenburg chapter was only logical, adding that “the party continues to radicalize itself.”
“Observing the federal party is likely to be the next logical step and is probably only a matter of time,” he said.
FDP deputy chairman Michael Theurer added,”We see with the great concern that the AfD has become increasingly radicalized, that it is right-wing extremists, that it is radical in its thinking.”
Martina Renner, vice-chairwoman of the Left party told news agency dpa, “No matter whether the wing is dissolved or Kalbitz is excluded, the AfD remains a nationalist and racist party, essentially.”
kp/rt (dpa, Reuters)
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