The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is facing growing calls to be put under state surveillance over mounting evidence of its links to neo-Nazi groups, following far-right demonstrations in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

A representative poll has showed that a majority of Germans are in favour of the move, backed by leading politicians including the justice minister, Katarina Barley, and the leader of the Social Democrats, Andrea Nahles.

The debate has flared up after leading members of the AfD marched alongside the far-right protest group Pegida at a demonstration in the eastern town of Chemnitz on Saturday, following a series of gatherings prompted by the stabbing of a local man, allegedly by two immigrants. Saturday’s march, called by the AfD, was advertised as a silent march to remember the 35-year-old victim, identified as Daniel H.

Previously, the AfD has been keen to distance itself from Pegida, but observers say it has been emboldened by the boost in support it has received since the recent clashes, in which far-right supporters raised their arms in illegal Nazi salutes, and immigrants were chased through the streets of Chemnitz.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has refused to be drawn on the issue, arguing that it is a matter for authorities and not politicians to decide. “These are not political decisions, but decisions that are based on fact,” she said on the fringes of a gathering of economy and trade union leaders.

Germany’s far right never went away, but festered in its eastern stronghold | James Hawes Read more

Nahles said after the events in Chemnitz she saw no reason not to put the AfD under surveillance. “There are good reasons to do this since Chemnitz,” she said, arguing that the AfD had shown its readiness to walk side by side with far-right extremists, “so showing us just what sort of party it is”, she said.

Barley, the justice minister who is a social democrat, told the online news portal Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland: “Parts of the AfD are acting in an openly anti-constitutional way. We must treat them like other enemies of the constitution and observe them accordingly.”

The interior minister, Horst Seehofer, of the Christian Social Union, said he saw no grounds for a blanket surveillance of the AfD.

In a separate move, the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen on Monday placed the youth wing of the AfD, the Junge Alternative – JA (Young Alternative) under surveillance for its suspected unconstitutional activity.

Boris Pistorius, Lower Saxony’s interior minister, who had pushed for the ban, said: “The Young Alternative represents a world view in which minorities such as immigrants, asylum seekers and Muslims, political opponents and homosexuals are flatly devalued and defamed,” he said, adding that the group was “repressive, authoritarian and anti-pluralist in its ambitions”.

He said the decision had nothing to do with the events in Chemnitz but had been planned for some time.

The JA’s Lower Saxony head, Lars Steinke, was removed from his post last month after describing Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the man who unsuccessfully plotted to murder the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, as a traitor.

Fear in Chemnitz: 'I’m used to neo-Nazis, but not my neighbour mixing with them in broad daylight' Read more

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution or BfV, which is Germany’s domestic security agency, when authorised to do so is broadly speaking tasked with collecting and analysing information about any efforts to destabilise German democracy including incitement to violence, whether from within Germany or by a foreign power.

It generally does so by monitoring any available sources of information, everything from newspapers to public discussions, to using more intricate intelligence gathering methods such as tapping phones, and intercepting mail and email as well as other forms of covert surveillance or spying.



The AfD, founded in 2014, entered the Bundestag last year for the first time having won almost 13% of the vote. Its support rose by two points after the Chemnitz riots. Its support in Saxony, in which Chemnitz lies, stands at around 25%. There, authorities said they had no plans to put the party under surveillance.

Just under 60% of Germans polled said they were in favour of the AfD being monitored, despite a general nervousness in Germany around surveillance issues due to its experience of two oppressive regimes.

Five AfD representatives, including its two chairmen, Alexander Gauland, and Jörg Meuthen, called the debate absurd. In a statement, they said: “We are a democratic party which stands up for the constitutional state. The AfD fights against extremists who abuse authorised protests in order to advertise their anti-democratic world view.”