Wednesday May 12, 2021
“Secured extremist”
The protection of the constitution observes Thuringian AfD
For the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it is now clear: The AfD state association is proven extremist and is being observed. Previously, the Landes-AfD around Björn Höcke was already classified as a suspected case. In some other federal states, this category does not even exist.
The Thuringian AfD under its boss Björn Höcke is now classified by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution as securely extremist. There are “efforts against the free democratic basic order”, it says in a template, which was discussed on Tuesday according to participants in a meeting in the Thuringian cabinet. The classification of the regional association by the Thuringian President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution was formally put into effect in mid-March.
The President of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, confirmed the cabinet position after consulting the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior, but did not want to comment on the content because there was an “increased duty of neutrality” with a view to the planned state election in autumn. The “Free Word” had previously reported on it.
In Thuringia, a new state parliament is to be elected on September 26th, but before that the parliament has to dissolve. Höcke was the founder of the “wing” of the AfD, later classified as right-wing extremist. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, described Höcke as a right-wing extremist. The “wing” has now been formally dissolved.
The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been on the Thuringian AfD for a long time. As early as March 2020, the authority classified the entire state association as a suspected case. The state spokesman for the AfD Thuringia, Stefan Möller, said on Tuesday evening, according to the announcement: “The Thuringians see every day who is actually grinding the fundamental rights. They also know that the AfD Thuringia is the only party uncompromisingly but peacefully committed to this month-long state of emergency.”
A decision at the federal level is still pending
In Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the respective state associations of the AfD are now classified as suspected cases. This means that intelligence services may also be used here, for example observation or the collection of information about so-called informants. These are informants from a certain milieu.
However, not all federal states know the suspected case category. In Bavaria, for example, it is not used. The state offices for the protection of the constitution work on the basis of state laws and may also have made other internal regulations. For example, some countries list groups that are classified as “suspected cases” in their annual reports, while others do not. At the federal level, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not allowed to classify and observe the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case until an urgent procedure has been concluded before the Cologne administrative court. The AfD had turned to the court as a precautionary measure before it could be classified as a suspected case in order to prevent this.
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