The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Tuesday attempted to delay a court hearing on whether it can be treated as a suspected extremist organisation, accusing judges of bias and seeking to summon a raft of top officials as witnesses.The AfD brought the case after the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), one of Germany\u2019s security agencies, made the classification in 2021, meaning it could deploy intelligence tools such as phone taps and informants against the party.A ruling in favour of the BfV would allow that to continue and would deal the party a blow just six months ahead of regional and European elections.The party polls in first place in several of the poorer, post-industrial eastern states where its anti-establishment, anti-immigration message is particularly resonant.The AfD, which has 78 of the 735 seats in the Bundestag federal parliament, says it is a democratic, non-extremist formation. Regional branches of the party have already been formally declared extremist threats.In a series of lengthy submissions on Tuesday, the AfD\u2019s lawyer Christian Conrad asked to summon much of the BfV\u2019s top leadership, saying they could shed light on the existence of a BfV report on the party \u2013 one the BfV said is not yet complete.A lawyer for the BfV accused the AfD of \u201cdragging out\u201d the hearing with repeated submissions.Presiding judge Gerald Buck rejected the party\u2019s request for more time to digest thousands of pages of evidence, prompting Conrad to request the dismissal of the entire panel of judges.Buck labelled that demand a frivolous abuse of plaintiff rights, but the accusations of bias are likely to be popular with supporters of a party that casts itself as an outsider fighting for the common man against the establishment.There has yet to be a decision on whether the BfV witnesses will be called to appear.The party has faced mounting pressure after the disclosure that senior figures had attended a meeting where the \u201cremigration\u201d of \u201cunintegrated\u201d citizens was discussed \u2013 widely seen as code for the expulsion of people of non-ethnic-German descent.The meeting prompted street protests and statements of concern from titans of German corporate life, which are normally reticent on matters of daily politics.Highlighting the increased focus on the party, broadcaster BR on Tuesday reported that the party\u2019s legislators between them employed more than 100 people with extremist links, an assertion the AfD rejected.The court in Muenster, in whose jurisdiction the BfV\u2019s headquarters in Cologne lies, is expected to issue a definitive ruling on the facts after two days of hearings.(Reuters)court hearing. far-right party, extremist organisation, court hearing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party attempted to delay a court hearing regarding its classification as a suspected extremist organization by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), a German security agency. This classification, made in 2021, allows the BfV to use intelligence tools against the AfD. A ruling in favor of the BfV would permit continued surveillance of the AfD, impacting the party ahead of regional and European elections. The AfD, which holds 78 of the 735 seats in the Bundestag, claims to be a democratic, non-extremist party, despite some regional branches being declared extremist threats. The party’s lawyer sought to summon BfV leadership to discuss a report on the party, which the BfV states is incomplete. The court rejected the AfD’s request for more time and the dismissal of the judge panel. The AfD faces scrutiny after senior members attended a meeting discussing the “remigration” of “unintegrated” citizens, leading to protests and corporate concern. A broadcaster reported that AfD legislators employed over 100 people with extremist links, a claim the AfD denies. The court in Muenster is expected to issue a ruling after two days of hearings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[506,932,1618,3,153,1610,1617,575,1616,576,1394,1346,301,577,827,618,18],"class_list":["post-3949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-afd","tag-court","tag-court-hearing","tag-cyprus","tag-elections","tag-evidence","tag-extremist-organisation","tag-far-right","tag-far-right-party","tag-germany","tag-man","tag-meeting","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-security","tag-top","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n