German states boost scrutiny of far-right group
Immigration concerns fuel party’s political rise
CHEMNITZ, Germany — German authorities said Monday they’re stepping up surveillance of the farright Alternative for Germany amid growing concern that the third-largest party in parliament is closing ranks with extremist groups.
Activists for AFD, the nationalist party’s German acronym, marched in the eastern city of Chemnitz alongside leading figures in anti-migrant group PEGIDA and members of the area’s militant neo-nazi scene in the past week, after two refugees were arrested in a German citizen’s fatal stabbing.
“Parts of AFD are openly acting against the Constitution,” Justice Minister Katarina Barley told the RND media group. “We need to treat them like other enemies of the Constitution and observe them accordingly.”
Authorities in northern Germany’s Bremen and Lower Saxony said Monday they have begun monitoring the party’s youth wings.
Boris Pistorius, Lower Saxony’s interior minister, said the decision to monitor Afd’s youth wing was unrelated to the recent events in Chemnitz. It is based on Young Alternative’s anti-democratic goals and links to the Identitarian Movement, a white nationalist group that has been under state surveillance for four years, Pistorius said.
His counterpart in Bremen, Ulrich Maeurer, described the views of Afd’s youth wing in the city-state as “pure racism.”
Some members of the Left party, which describes its position as democratic socialist, also are subject to surveillance.
AFD announced that it would dissolve the two youth sections in question to avert harm to the party and insisted its aims were democratic.
Andreas Kalbitz, a member of the party’s national leadership, accused other political parties of panicking in the face of Afd’s electoral success.
Afd’s rise since its founding five years ago has called into question the country’s post-world War II consensus that far-right parties have no place in the mainstream. The party, bolstered by unease in Germany about the influx of more than 1 million refugees since 2015, placed third in last year’s national election.
The party encouraged last week’s protests, which drew thousands following the Aug. 26 slaying of 35-year-old carpenter Daniel Hillig in Chemnitz. Some demonstrations erupted into violence between marchers and counter-protesters.
Government officials urged Germans who are upset over the killing to distance themselves from the neo-nazis who performed the stiff-armed “Hitler salute,” chanted “Foreigners out” and harassed journalists.
“If one doesn’t think this way, it would be good to draw a clear line and distance oneself from those who are doing that,” said Steffen Seibert, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman.
In an organized response to the far-right marches, tens of thousands gathered Monday in Chemnitz for a free, open-air concert by some of Germany’s best-known bands.