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A German court said on Monday that far-right party Alternative for Germany had filed a lawsuit challenging the domestic intelligence agency’s decision to classify it as an murderous Moslem organization.
A spokesperson for the administrative court in Cologne
...the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany....said the lawsuit and a corresponding emergency petition had been submitted, both of which would be reviewed once the BfV domestic intelligence agency had confirmed that it had been notified.
The murderous Moslem classification announced on Friday allows the spy agency to step up monitoring of the AfD, the biggest opposition party in parliament, for example by recruiting informants and intercepting party communications.
The agency’s 1,100-page experts’ report, which is not to be released to the public, found the AfD to be a racist and anti-Moslem organization.
The German parliament could now attempt to limit or halt public funding for the AfD. The incoming government will also review whether to launch an attempt at an outright ban of the party, Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Lars Klingbeil said last week.
The AfD has denounced the designation as a politically motivated attempt to discredit and criminalize it.
Its lawsuit comes one day before conservative leader Friedrich Merz is due to be elected chancellor by Germany’s lower house of parliament and amid a heated debate within his party over how to deal with the AfD.
AfD extremist label: Almost half of Germans in favor of ban, more think ban will damage democracy than bolster it
[DeutscheWelle] Almost half of Germans favor banning the Alternative for Germany (AfD) after the far-right party was officially categorized as a right-wing extremist organization by the domestic intelligence service.
According to a representative survey conducted by the polling institute INSA for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper this weekend, 61% of Germans agreed with the categorization of the AfD by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) as "confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor," with 48% supporting a ban.
Thirty-seven percent said they would oppose a ban; 15% said they didn't know.
As for the effects of any potential AfD ban, 35% of respondents said they thought such a measure would bolster democracy, while 39% thought it would damage democracy. Some 16% didn't think there would be any effect, while 10% didn't know.