More than 1,000 German lawyers have asked the Bundestag to ban Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) as the party continues to gain popularity. Some 1,051 lawyers, judges, public prosecutors and legal trainees have signed an open letter calling for a ban on the far-right organisation, according to the Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein (RAV, Republican Lawyers' Association).
The letter was addressed to the federal government and members of the Bundestag. The letter initially had just 500 signatures in July but quickly doubled this week. The basis for the call to ban the AfD was a legal opinion issued by the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (Society for Civil Rights, GFF) stating that 'the AfD's policies violate both the principle of human dignity enshrined in the Basic Law and the democratic principle, rendering the party unconstitutional.'
