Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has been designated as right-wing extremist by the country's federal office for the protection of the constitution. "The ethnicity- and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order,

Germany's domestic intelligence service on Friday designated the AfD as a right-wing extremist group, handing authorities greater powers to monitor the party and fuelling calls for it to be banned. The classification gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party by lowering the barriers for such steps as intercepting telephone calls and using undercover agents.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency on Friday classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, a move enabling it to better monitor the party that came second in February's federal election.