German spy agency brands far-right AfD as 'extremist', opens way for closer surveillance

FILE PHOTO: The AfD logo is pictured on stage before an election campaign rally of Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the Alternative for Germany in Thuringia, the state in east Germany where polls say his party could take 29% of the vote in September, in Arnstadt, Germany, July 20, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Escritt/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's spy agency on Friday classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "extremist", enabling it to step up monitoring of the country's biggest opposition party, which decried the move as a "blow against democracy".

A 1,100-page experts' report found the AfD to be a racist and anti-Muslim organisation, a designation that allows the security services to recruit informants and intercept party communications, and which has revived calls for the party's ban.