German intelligence agency probing far-right AfD opposition party

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has put the opposition Alternative for Germany party under observation under suspicion of extreme right sympathies, several local media outlets report.

The move by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, known by the initials BfV, comes more than two years after it announced it was examining public comments by party members and links to extremist groups more closely.

In January 2019, the agency put the youth wing of the party, known as AfD, as well as a party faction linked to a prominent leader in eastern Germany, Bjoern Hoecke, under covert surveillance over extremism allegations.

At the time, the BfV cited the youth organization’s stated goal of creating an ethnically pure country and efforts by Hoecke’s faction — known as “The Wing” — to downplay Germany’s Nazi past. The Wing has also suggested it might pursue “revolutionary” means to achieve its political aims, warranting scrutiny from the BfV, which is tasked with monitoring all extremist organizations in the country.