German far-right AfD call for ban of Islam

Support for the AfD has grown since the start of the refugee crisis

2 May 2016, 9:00am
by Staff Reporter

1 min read

AfD says that Islam has no place in Germany as it conflicts with the German constitution

Members of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) have put forward an election manifesto that dictating Islam’s compatibility with the constitution.

Delegates at the party's conference on Sunday also supported a call to ban towers on mosques and the burqa.

Established three years ago, the AfD’s popularity has soared due to Europe's refugee crisis, which saw the arrival of more than one million, mostly Muslims, in Germany last year.

The party has no MPs in the federal parliament in Berlin but has members in half of Germany's 16 regional state assemblies.

Opinion polls give AfD support of up to 14 percent, presenting a serious challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and other established parties in the lead-up to the 2017 federal election.

Most mainstream parties have ruled out any coalition with the AfD.

Last month the head of Germany's Central Council of Muslims compared the AfD's attitude towards his community to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazis towards the Jews.