Germany counts almost 60,000 far-right extremists, intelligence agency says
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency reported almost 60,000 far-right extremists in the country, with more than a quarter classified as potentially violent — an increase that officials attribute to a hardening and growth of the scene.
The assessment lands as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leads in polling for upcoming national and state elections, sharpening a debate over how the state should treat a movement that spans both electoral politics and a militant fringe. The intelligence tally counts individuals judged to hold extremist views, a category broader than the party itself, but the rising numbers give security services grounds to expand surveillance even as the political mainstream weighs how far to go in confronting the AfD.