German Intelligence Expands Monitoring of AfD Extremist Actions

German intelligence agency BfV is set to intensify monitoring of far-right group Alternative for Germany (AfD) for their involvement in extremist activities, which according to media reports, could damage the parties reputation during an important election year.

RELATED: 
Fears of '2nd Chemnitz' as Afghans Held Over German Man's Death

The head of the BfV Thomas Haldenwang announced, near the end of December 2018, that an increase in monitoring of the AfD would take place. The intelligence official also mentioned that a trigger for this action is an anti-migrant “mobilization” held in the city of Chemnitz in August 2017.

The AfD called on supporters to demonstrate in Chemnitz after the alleged killing of a German citizen by two middle-eastern men. The protest instrumentalized anti-migrant sentiment to inflame racism and violence which led to supporters persecuting Jewish citizens, as is the case of suspected neo-Nazis who threw stones and bottles at a local Jewish-owned restaurant.

The Chemnitz protest demonstrated a “new dynamic in right-wing extremism,” Haldenwang pointed out.

Media reports highlight that the BfV is going as far as using “informants or phone taps” in its AfD monitoring activities. Specifically, the BfV is expected to step up surveillance of youth groups such as the JA and Flugel (Wing).

Flugel leader Bjorn Hocke attracted negative attention to the organization by calling the Berlin Holocaust monument — in remembrance of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust — a “memorial of shame.”

The European parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in May of this year and some members within the AfD leadership expect to do well, as they are knitting closer alliances with other far-right parties such as Austria’s FPOe.

However, the pressure exerted by the German federal intelligence service could affect the parties’ reputation ahead of the poll, according to media reports. 

The AfD entered the Bundestag (lower house of Congress) in 2017 winning 94 of the 709-seats, thus becoming a political force to be reckoned with for the first time since their foundation in 2013.