Only three days after Senator Cotton's directive to halt sharing intelligence with the German BfV the agency is more or less retracting its propaganda classification towards the AfD party. It is believed that the BfV is just forestalling the outcome of the lawsuit filed by the AfD.
BERLIN [ABC News] -- Germany's domestic intelligence agency said Thursday it will await a court ruling before moving forward with plans to classify the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party as a “ right-wing extremist ” movement, a step that could subject the party to broader surveillance and scrutiny of its activities.
The announced pause comes after the party, known as AfD, filed a lawsuit in the western city of Cologne against the move by the intelligence service and the party's supporters alleged a politically motivated crackdown.
German officials have denied that allegation and have faulted what they called the party's “ongoing agitation” against refugees and migrants.
The AfD’s co-leaders, Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, responded in a joint statement saying the intelligence service’s decision Thursday was “a first important step” that would help “counter the accusation of right-wing extremism.”
In a social media post last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Germany to undo the classification, saying the move to give new powers to the spy agency to watch the opposition amounted to “tyranny in disguise.”
