Germany's far-right hits back at 'extremist' label

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, the second-largest party in the country's parliament, the Bundestag, has begun legal proceedings against Germany's domestic intelligence agency after it labeled the populist anti-immigrant party an extremist organization.

In a statement issued last week, it said the AfD, which won 20.8 percent of votes in February's election, behind the winning Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union, or CDU-CSU, which took 28.6 percent, "aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society".

Specifically, the statement went on to say, that it did not consider citizens "from predominantly Muslim countries" as equal members of the German nation.