German intelligence labels AfD a confirmed right-wing extremist group

Germany's domestic intelligence agency said on Friday it has designated the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization.

The agency, called the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said there was now concrete evidence that the anti-immigrant party founded in 2013 pursues efforts that threaten Germany's democratic order.

"The party's prevailing understanding of the people based on ethnicity and descent is incompatible with the free democratic basic order," the agency said.

Statements and positions by the party and leading AfD representatives violate the constitutional principle of the inviolability of human dignity, stated the agency's vice presidents, Sinan Selen and Silke Willems.

The AfD, which soared to a second-place finish in last year's general election, previously held "suspected" extremist status by the agency. The party unsuccessfully challenged that designation in court.