Radicalism in action - The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is monitoring a Bavarian AfD politician.
The Bavarian authority for keeping tabs on extremism, known as the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is keeping an eye on AfD state legislator Franz Schmid for possible connections to far-right groups. As per Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze's inquiry, the Munich-based Interior Ministry announced they believe Schmid is connected to the "Identitarian Movement". Schmid is even suspected of financially assisting extremists.
Additionally, Schmid is a board member of the Young Alternative - a youth group affiliated with AfD. Munich's publicly-owned broadcaster first released this information.
Schmid addressed the accusations by saying, "The endless attacks from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution on the AfD are simply political campaigns, and should be discarded as such."
The Interior Ministry's rules permit them to observe legislators who abuse their duties to oppose the fundamental democratic system or actively and aggressively attack it. They claim Schmid meets these conditions, as per their evaluation. Katharina Schulze, head of the Green parliamentary group, commented, "The Interior Ministry's response to my inquiry reveals how detrimental Schmid is to our democracy."
