Gatherings or celebrations. - The Saxon AfD party files a lawsuit against the constitution protection report.
The Saxon AfD intends to legally contest their designation as a right-wing extremist organization in the existing Constitutional Protection Report. On Friday, they declared in Dresden their intention to expand an existing lawsuit at the Administrative Court.
The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) classified the Saxon branch of the AfD as a "secured right-wing extremist tendency" back in December 2023. The party had already commenced legal action against this Label. The case is still underway. Additionally, the AfD requests the publication of an expert opinion that the Constitutional Protection Agency employs as a reference for their assessment.
AfD Chairman Jörg Urban flatly denied any extremist ideologies within his party on Friday and decried the stigmatization. He defined extremism as "overthrow fantasies and violence." He asserted that his party is "light-years away" from such activities and considered the discussion "absurd."
Urban accused the Constitutional Protection Agency of having evolved into a "speech police," while criticizing Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) for using the agency to combat opposition. AfD Deputy Chairman Joachim Keiler noted that the AfD had previously appeared in previous Constitutional Protection Reports merely as a victim of left-wing violence.
In the present report, the Saxon AfD's intention to "abolish the constitution or aggressively and militantly oppose it or the Basic Law" is nowhere substantiated: "That's also not possible, because it's not the political goal of the Saxon AfD," according to the statement. They accuse the Constitutional Protection Agency of being politically exploited.
Interior Minister Schuster has recently denied any political motives while discussing the report and labeled the AfD's designation as a right-wing extremist tendency as a strictly legal matter. The LfV supported its stance in the Constitutional Protection Report by claiming that the AfD-Landesverband Saxony is seeking to enact a fundamental political paradigm shift, which the party itself refers to as a "system change."
Urban admitted that the AfD's designation as a "secured right-wing extremist tendency" in Saxony initially inspired a growth in mebership and financial contributions for the AfD. However, they are aiming for an absolute majority in the state and intend to attract voters who have not previously supported the AfD before. "We want to win CDU voters, we want to win Left voters, we want to win SPD voters." If the AfD's reputation is tarnished, though, it hinders the party's growth, according to Keiler. The classification of East German state branches as right-wing extremist has also impacted some Western branches.
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- Armin Schuster, as the Interior Minister of Saxony, defended the Constitutional Protection Agency's designation of the Saxony branch of the AfD as a "secured right-wing extremist tendency" as a strictly legal matter.
- In response to their classification, the AfD party in Saxony, led by Chairman Jörg Urban, is seeking publication of an expert opinion used by the Constitutional Protection Agency.
- The Constitutional Protection Report of 2023 labeled the AfD as intending to "abolish the constitution or aggressively and militantly oppose it or the Basic Law," but the AfD denies any such intentions.
- The legal battle over the AfD's designation extends back to December 2023, when the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution issued the initial classification.
- AfD Deputy Chairman Joachim Keiler argued that the party's designation as right-wing extremist has impacted branches outside of East Germany, negatively affecting the party's growth and public image.
- Armin Schuster, as well as the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, has faced criticism from the AfD for politically exploiting the Constitutional Protection report, resulting in stigmatization of the party.
