Germany Places Right-Wing Opposition Party Under Domestic Surveillance

Posted By TheNewsCommenter: From Npr.org: “Germany Places Right-Wing Opposition Party Under Domestic Surveillance”. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Alexander Gauland, a leader in Germany's right-wing AfD political party, leaves a news conference after discussing reports that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has deemed his entire party under suspicion of being a threat to the constitution. Omer Messinger/Getty Images hide caption

Alexander Gauland, a leader in Germany's right-wing AfD political party, leaves a news conference after discussing reports that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has deemed his entire party under suspicion of being a threat to the constitution.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency has put the country's largest opposition party under surveillance as a potential threat to the country's constitution, according to public broadcaster ARD and other media outlets. The move affects dozens of lawmakers who are in the right-wing Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party.

Members of the AfD say the investigation is politically motivated, aimed at weakening the party. In January, one party leader accused Chancellor Angela Merkel's government of "trying to stigmatize us and to really put us in the Nazi corner."

The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is not commenting publicly on the investigation. But the designation of the AfD as a suspected case of anti-constitutional activity escalates the agency's ongoing inquiry, allowing it to start a number of surveillance operations, from cultivating informants and tapping phone calls to reading emails.

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