The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service announced the Identitarian youth protest group have reached the threshold to qualify for domestic surveillance.

Head of the Federal Office for Constitutional Protection, Hans-Georg Maassen, has announced that the German branch of the hipster-right Identitarian movement will now be the subject of surveillance by the German domestic spy agency. “Some state offices are now looking at the Identitarians more closely since they have reached the threshold for observation,” Mr. Maassen told media clarifying that the group had “moved in various regions from pure internet activities to real life demonstrations, “ Spiegel ONLINE reports.

This is not the first time the German security chief had commented on the group who stage elaborate protests against mass-migration. Three years ago when asked about the group, he claimed that they had very little presence in real life and the movement was mostly focused on the internet. And when questioned by Ulla Jelpke, domestic affairs spokesman for the Die Linke (The Left) party, Mr. Massen stated that the Identitarian Movement consisted of around 50 different related groups at the time.

The Austrian branch of the Identitarian movement have been under the eye of Austria’s intelligence service for some time. Martin Sellner, leader of the Identitarians in Austria, told Breitbart London he thought there were better uses of the intelligence services’ time in Austria and Germany. “We think that the intelligence service should rather watch the radical Islamists that Merkel invited to Europe, rather than young men and women who fight against Islamisation.”

The commencement of observation in Germany on the group may stem from a protest the group conducted in April. Several members of the movement posted stickers on the office of the Antonio Amadeus Foundation who they accuse of helping the government censor free speech on the internet. The head of the foundation is a known ex-Stasi agent named Anetta Kehane. The group posted stickers on the office door that contained the old logo of the east German secret police.

When asked if he thought that the protest may have triggered the response from the intelligence service, Mr. Sellner said: “Yes maybe. But all in all, repression is the last and only answer of a failing system against its critics.” He also mentioned that he thought police raids like the ones against other critics of Angela Merkel could take place in the future. The police had already raided the home of at least one member of the Identitarian movement following a protest at the headquarters of the German Socialist Party last June.

Mr. Sellner gave a speech on the weekend at the 500 member strong rally organised by the French Génération Identitaire who are the originators of the youth movement. The protest went without incident among chants of: “Here is our home!” and the group spoke strongly against Islamisation and terrorism on their Facebook page saying: “The French have been silent for too long… It is time to show our determination to continue to live on our land, under our laws, our values and with respect to our identity.”