German Muslim group says AfD's surge promotes 'right-wing extremists'

Voters who supported the far-right Alternative forGermany (AfD) in elections in two eastern states have knowinglyhelped to put "right-wing extremists" in power, the chairman of theCentral Council of Muslims in Germany said."We must not pretend to ourselves that these voters are castingprotest votes or are simply naive," Aiman Mazyek, the chairman of thecouncil, told Tuesday's Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung newspaper."I believe they know that they are assisting right-wing extremists togain seats in the parliaments," Mazyek said.He described positions taken up by the AfD in Saxony, where the AfDalmost trebled its support to 27.5 per cent, as anti-constitutional."It is not the Muslims in Germany, but the AfD that has to commit todemocracy," Mazyek said.Attempts by the AfD to classify Islam as an ideology rather than areligion were against the German constitution. "This is not only ananti-religion, but an anti-constitution position," Mazyek said.The AfD, which also saw its support in neighbouring Brandenburg risein the elections held on Sunday, takes a strongly anti-immigrant andanti-Muslim line.The German immigration authority, BAMF, put the number of Muslims inGermany at the end of 2015 at between 4.4 and 4.7 million in a totalpopulation at the time of 82.2 million.