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AfD youth organization: In many places "secured right-wing extremist"

Photo: Jens Kalaene / dpa

Brandenburg's Office for the Protection of the Constitution has tightened its assessment of the AfD youth organization Young Alternative and now assesses it as a secure right-wing extremist endeavor. This was announced by the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jörg Müller, and Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) in Potsdam. The AfD youth had been classified as a suspected right-wing extremist case in the country since 2019. The positions are clearly not compatible with the Basic Law, said Stübgen. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution had repeatedly found violations of the free democratic basic order.

The chairman is a member of the Bundestag

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution announced in April that the Young Alternative is being observed nationwide as a confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor. Previously, it was classified as a suspected right-wing extremist case. However, the federal authority had temporarily withdrawn the nationwide upgrade, according to AfD information from June, due to court proceedings. The Young Alternative is already considered a right-wing extremist movement in several federal states.

The Brandenburg Ministry of the Interior had announced in April that two lawsuits of the AfD were still pending in Brandenburg, but based on the decision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), a reassessment would nevertheless be examined.

Since last October, the AfD member of the Bundestag, Hannes Gnauck from the Uckermark, has been the new federal chairman of the AfD youth organization. He and other JA members maintain contacts with the Institute for State Policy in Saxony-Anhalt, which is also considered by the BfV to be a certain right-wing extremist endeavor.

The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution had classified the AfD state association in 2020 as a right-wing extremist suspected case. Last year, according to the authority, 730 people were considered right-wing extremists in the AfD, and 90 in the Young Alternative.

muk/dpa