Alternative for Germany Draft Manifesto Proposes Ban on Mosques

Several Bavarian-based members of the right-wing anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) have produced a manifesto that proposes to close mosques and states that "Islam does not belong in Germany," Editorial Network Germany (RND) reported.

The right-wing anti-immigration, Eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has produced a policy paper which proposes to ban "the construction and use of mosques," and declares that "Islam does not belong in Germany."

The recommendations are part of a 45-page paper written by the AfD party branch in Lower Bavaria, intended for debate at the party's conference in Stuttgart at the end of April.

The AfD, which was founded in 2012, recently enjoyed its greatest political success: in local elections that were held in three German states on March 13, it gained a double-digit share of the vote. 

The party attracted voters from across the political spectrum, but a large minority of its support comes from people who had not voted previously. The AfD recorded its best results in Sachsen-Anhalt, where it gained 24.2 percent of the vote, more than 100,000 of whom were new voters.

A supporter of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party displays a placard showing crossed out Niqabs during a demonstration against the German government's asylum policy organized by the AfD party on November in Berlin on November 7, 2015.

© AFP 2023 / John MacDougall

The AfD draft manifesto was obtained by Editorial Network Germany (RND), which reported that its authors are a group of ring-wing party members who call themselves "Der Fluegel" (the wing).

"The AfD is calling for a direct attack on religious freedom for the first time, in order to take action against Islam," RND wrote.

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany states that "freedom of faith and of conscience, and freedom to profess a religious or philosophical creed, shall be inviolable," and that "the undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed."

The draft manifesto alleges that mosques "are not only for common prayers, but also for the spreading of Islamic teachings that our constitution forbids."

The Koran permits "lies and deception," and Islam is "on its path to world domination, having already arrived in 57 out of 190 countries," the manifesto claims.

The authors of Federal Germany's Basic Law, which was adopted in 1949, did not take into consideration that fact that "religion can also incite criminal acts … and aim for world domination," the AfD members wrote.

Lower Bavaria is one of seven administrative regions of Bavaria, and the AfD party leader in Bavaria Petr Bystron told RND that he is aware of the proposals. 

The Lower Bavarian district association has a "certain similarity" with the right wing of the party, Bystron said. The manifesto is a "counter-proposal" because many in the party are not in agreement with the party leadership, he explained.

On Wednesday a spokesman for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) told Sputnik that the AfD initiative to close mosques is "unacceptable" and contradicts the constitution of the country.

"For the FDP, such restrictions on religious freedom in Germany, as demanded by the AfD, are socially unacceptable. They are contrary to the Constitution and shed light on the political capacity of the AfD," Wulf Oehme said.