Germany's far-right AfD takes legal action against 'extremist' ruling

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Monday said it has taken legal action after Germany's domestic intelligence agency officially classified the party as right-wing extremist.

A spokesman for party co-leader Alice Weidel confirmed that the AfD has submitted a complaint to an administrative court in the western city of Cologne, where the intelligence service - formally known as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) - is based.

The move came after the BfV on Friday released a lengthy report confirming the extremist nature of the AfD, which came second in February's parliamentary elections.

Intelligence officials said that there was concrete evidence that the anti-immigrant party pursued efforts that threaten Germany's democratic order, and that its understanding of the German nation as based on ethnicity and descent was incompatible with the country's free democratic order.

The classification, which gives the agency broader surveillance powers over the AfD, has sparked renewed debate on whether the German parliament should move to ban the party.

The case will be heard by the Cologne Administrative Court, which is responsible for lawsuits against the BfV.

A court in Münster ruled last year in an appeal that the BfV was correct to classify the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist organization.