Germany's far-right AfD party officially classified as 'extremist' organisation

Germany's spy agency has officially classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an "extremist" organisation.  The party has been growing in popularity and came second in February's general election.

The country's domestic intelligence agency said on Friday that it was an extremist entity which threatens democracy. Its 1,000-page internal report claimed views around ethnicity held by the AfD aim to exclude certain groups from equal participation in society.

"The party's prevailing understanding of the people based on ethnicity and descent is incompatible with the free democratic basic order," the agency said in a statement. "Specifically, the AfD considers, for example, German citizens with a migration background from predominantly Muslim countries not equal members of the ethnically defined German people." Read moreConservatives win election but AfD makes gainsAnalysis: Results show stark east-west divideExplainer: The woman at the top of the AfD AfD's co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla described the decision as a "serious blow to German democracy".

In a joint statement on Friday, they said: "The AfD is now being publicly discredited and criminalised as an opposition party shortly before the change of government. "The associated, targeted interference in the democratic decision-making process is therefore clearly politically motivated.

The AfD will continue to defend itself legally against this defamation that jeopardises democracy." The party leaders have consistently denied the party is either far right or extremist. Local branches of the party in the east German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt had already been classified as extremist by regional spy chiefs.

The entire party was also previously designated "suspected" far-right extremist. However, the announcement allows intelligence agencies to increase surveillance on the group.

It may also embolden opponents to try to get the party banned. The decision was welcomed by the country's interior minister, Nancy Faeser, who said in a statement that the new assessment was "clear and unequivocal.