The AfD federal leadership has accused the governing parties of politically abusing the protection of the constitution - and announced resistance to the observation by the secret service.

"We won't let ourselves be destroyed as an alternative," said party leader Tino Chrupalla on Saturday in Stuttgart at the state party conference of the AfD Baden-Württemberg.

Chrupalla told the German Press Agency that it was an attempt to discredit and disintegrate the AfD.

In democratic Europe, that was an absolutely special way, he complained.

The AfD is being observed as a suspected case by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and, more recently, by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the south-west.

Co-federal party leader Alice Weidel said at the opening of the party conference in Stuttgart that one would not sit idly by and see how the AfD was being excluded and silenced.

Weidel was state chairman in Baden-Württemberg for two and a half years, but did not want to run again on Saturday.

It is not unconstitutional to denounce the "failures of the established parties," she said.

It is even the opposition's duty to point out such omissions.

The governing parties, however, moved further and further away from the principle of democracy.

Weidel said that they would defend themselves politically and legally against the surveillance by the secret service.

The AfD is infiltrated and made bad

The Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) only announced on Thursday that the party would also be observed in the south-west in the future.

The authority therefore sees “sufficiently weighty factual evidence” for anti-constitutional efforts in the AfD Baden-Württemberg.

The secret service agents are allowed to take a closer look at the right-wing populists and, under strict conditions, observe members, monitor phones and recruit informants.

Weidel called the process "outrageous".

Where else in Western democracies is there a domestic intelligence agency used by the government to "infiltrate and badmouth" the opposition, she asked.

She criticized "stigmatization with simultaneous terror": "Our houses are defaced, cars are set on fire from the left-wing extremist milieu - I would also like to see a constitutional state that takes action against it."

The state association argued for hours on Saturday in the Stuttgart exhibition center about the finances of the organization, it was about reports from treasurers and auditors, allegedly missing documents and the valuation of real estate.

By mid-afternoon, the state board had not yet been relieved.

Weidel no longer wants to run for the presidency because she wants to concentrate on her Berlin offices.

A rift continues through the Southwest Party.

Some of the members stand for a more moderate, right-wing conservative course.

The other part sympathizes with the "wing", which has meanwhile been classified as right-wing extremist, which has actually been dissolved - but which, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, still has a structural and significant influence on the state association.

Martin Hess, police officer and member of the Bundestag, wants to become Weidel's successor.

He sees himself as belonging to a moderate current in the party, is close to Weidel and is already Vice-President of the regional association.

Dirk Spaniel, another member of the Bundestag, also wanted to run for the presidency in the southwest – but with a different orientation.

In the past, he was repeatedly said to be close to the folkish-national "wing".

After the board elections, the members in Stuttgart want to devote themselves to numerous applications.

In the Südwest-AfD there are plans to participate in local print and online media in order to gain more attention.

In an application by the state board members and members of the Bundestag Hess, Markus Frohnmaier and Marc Jongen, among others, the board is asked to examine participation in local print and online media.

This is justified with the "increasingly hostile media landscape".

However, it is unclear how such a project will be financed.

Weidel also did not rule out that the AfD could buy into existing media houses.

It depends on the price, she said.

"We don't appear anywhere, I'm not invited to any talk shows - that can't be," she told the dpa.

The AfD must therefore think about founding and supporting alternative media channels.

"It can't go on like this." The entire "Journaille" is "occupied by the green-left", no longer fulfills its critical task as the fourth force in democracy and is only "the mouthpiece of the ruling party", criticized Weidel.

There is no more independent media and no more critical reporting, she claimed.

In the state elections last year, the AfD suffered heavy losses in the south-west.

She landed at 9.7 percent - a minus of 5.4 points.