Germany's Anti Mass Migration AfD Blasted As 'Unconstitutional'

Germany’s left wing Justice Minister Heiko Maas has lashed out at the rising Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as “unconstitutional” for their new political programme. 

Breitbart London reported on Monday that  in response to their growing popularity, the previously single-issue, Euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party voted to adopt their first manifesto. The party’s headline grabbing pledges outlining their position on Islam’s future in Germany, have been quickly seized upon by the country’s Justice Minister as unconstitutional.

Responding to growing opposition to Chancellor Merkel’s “open borders” approach to migration that saw more than a million migrants enter the country in 2015,  AfD have pledged to build a Hungarian-style border fence and expel foreign criminals.

Reflecting concerns about growing Islamisation, the AfD also propose a French-style burqa ban and prohibition of the Muslim call to prayer and further construction of minarets.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas, from the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP), told the Frankfurter Allgemeine that AfD’s proposed restrictions are incompatible with freedom of religion in Germany. He outlined the party’s vision for Germany as a “xenophobic” one, in which “the majority of Germans” would not want to live.

Elsewhere in the German media, Süddeutsche Zeitung features a legal scholar, Joachim Wieland, who agrees with Mr. Maas. Not only does he reject the legality of restricting minarets, madrassas and the Islamic call to prayer but also the AfD’s opposition to the European Union (EU) as a political entity, and their proposal to abolish the country’s system of public broadcasting.

At their conference last weekend the AfD declared Islam is incompatible with Germany’s legal system and culture.“Islam does not belong to Germany”, a statement made by the party’s deputy chairman, Beatrix von Storch, was voted on to become official party doctrine.

In opposition to Angela Merkel’s claim last year that “Islam belongs to Germany,” the AfD notes that “orthodox” forms of Islam hold that it is the only acceptable faith and that nonbelievers are “infidels”, which contradicts freedom of religion.

Two senior constitutional judges in Germany have accused Chancellor Merkel’s actions during Europe’s migrant crisis unconstitutional. Judge Michael Bertrams, former president of the constitutional court of North Rhine-Westphalia, said her decisions were without democratic merit and had done wide damage to the country’s European allies.

He questioned how, considering all the wide-ranging implications on the budget and on Europe as a whole, her unilateralist invitation to hundreds of thousands of refugees could have been legitimate.