German right-wing party under fire for anti-Islam comments

Germany’s right-wing populist AfD party draws heavy fire after two of its leaders label Islam incompatible with the country’s values and constitution.

The three-year-old Alternative for Germany party, which harshly opposes Merkel’s liberal refugee policy, plans to adopt an anti-Islamic manifesto at a conference this month.

The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany Aiman Mazyek charges that “the AfD is riding a wave of Islamophobia.”

The opposition Greens’ senior lawmaker Konstantin von Notz also accuses the AfD of trying to “deliberately turn Islam into a bogeyman to capture voters.”

— AFP