To spy or not to spy? German parties split over AfD
By Andrea Shalal
ReutersSeptember 3, 2018
BERLIN (Reuters) - Differences emerged between Germany's governing parties on Monday over how to respond to the Alternative for Germany's (AfD) alleged ties to anti-Islamic and racist groups, as calls grew for the far-right party to be placed under surveillance.
About 6,000 supporters of the AfD and the anti-Islam PEGIDA group turned out to a series of protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz after a man was stabbed to death there last weekend, allegedly by two immigrants.
Skinheads clashed with police soon after a Syrian and an Iraqi were identified as the main suspects, and a number of xenophobic attacks were reported, exposing bitter divisions over Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal immigration policy.
On Monday, the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen said their regional security services, tasked with policing unconstitutional activity, had placed their respective regional chapters of Young Alternative, the largest opposition party's youth wing, under surveillance because of its suspected ties.
But with pressure from politicians and activists to extend that surveillance to the national party, conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel declined to enter the fray directly, saying it was for the security services themselves to decide whom to monitor.
"These aren't political decisions, but decisions that are based on facts," she told reporters after a summit of business leaders and labor unions, attended also by Olaf Scholz, her Social Democrat finance minister.
Scholz said he agreed on the principle, but added at the same news conference that the clashes in Chemnitz gave clear cause for a renewed look at whether the AfD, which entered parliament for the first time last year, should be monitored.
Germany's constitution contains strict safeguards against extremism, allowing for the close monitoring and even the proscribing of extremist parties.
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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pressure-mounts-surveillance-germanys-far-afd-party-113214687.html
