BERLIN Germany's interior ministry banned the right-wing Compact magazine on Tuesday, accusing it of being a "mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene" and inciting hatred to Jews and foreigners.

Stepping up the government's fight against what it says is a surge in far-right extremism in Germany, the ministry said Compact had been working against the constitutional order and ordered property searches in four states.

Compact magazine, which is widely seen as a proponent of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's radical wing, has a circulation of 40,000 and a wide-reaching social media presence. The ban also applies to Compact's subsidiary, Conspect Film, and prohibits any continuation of previous activities.

Searches of the magazine's office as well as the homes of its top figures, management and leading shareholders in Brandenburg, Hesse, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were aimed at seizing assets and other evidence, the ministry said.

"It is a central mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene. This magazine incites hatred against Jews, people with a history of migration and our parliamentary democracy in an unspeakable manner," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

Faeser has described right-wing extremism as the greatest radical threat to German democracy as mainstream politicians struggle to respond to a rise in the popularity of the AfD before elections in eastern Germany this year.

Compact magazine's editor-in-chief, Juergen Elsaesser, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Several hours after the ministry announced the ban, Compact's website could still be read online. Its accounts on social media platforms such as X were also still accessible.

The interior ministry said the monthly magazine founded in 2010 was a central part of the New Right network and had close links to the far-right Identitarian Movement as well as others across what it called the right-wing extremist party spectrum.

The magazine was designated as a proven right-wing extremist publication by the country's domestic intelligence agency in 2021 for disseminating conspiracy theories, anti-vaccination propaganda and anti-Semitic and Islamophobic narratives.

Advertisements for the magazine's summer festival on July 27 highlight the presence of Maximilian Krah, an AfD politician whose refusal to condemn all members of the Nazi paramilitary SS under Adolf Hitler led to the AfD being kicked out of the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament.

Martin Sellner, an Austrian leader of the Identitarian Movement, was also promoted on Compact's website as a guest.

Hans-Christoph Berndt, the AfD's leader in the Brandenburg parliament, linked the timing of the ban to the September elections in three eastern states, including Brandenburg.

"One thing is certain: Those who ban critical media are not doing so to protect democracy, but out of fear of democracy," he said.  

  - Reuters