Internal security – Hanover – the protection of the constitution classifies AfD as a suspicious object – politics
Hanover (dpa) – The AfD has been affected by the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspicious object. The President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Bernhard Witthaut, said on Thursday in Hanover when presenting the report for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution for 2021. According to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, the AfD was assigned accordingly in May of this year.
Previously, in Lower Saxony, for example, the youth organization of the AfD was affected as an object of observation – this is to be classified even higher than a suspicious object. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution discontinued the AfD as a whole party as a suspected case in the area of right-wing extremism.
Witthaut explained in a statement that the former “wing” members of the party had seeped into the party structures of the AfD with their ideas and goals. In addition, the party in the federal state has contacts, references and connections to right-wing extremist organizations and protagonists.
In addition to the AfD, there is another new object of suspicion, this is about the so-called anti-democratic and/or security-endangering delegitimization of the state. These include corona deniers and conspiracy theorists. This classification was already made in May 2021.
Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) emphasized that right-wing extremism is the greatest danger to democracy, despite the slight potential for people. According to this, 1730 people are assigned to right-wing extremism in Lower Saxony – 20 fewer than a year earlier. The number of violent left-wing extremists in the federal state remained largely constant at 800. The Salafist potential stagnated at around 900 people last year – the trend is currently slightly declining.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220616-99-688896/5