The minister said it was “right and necessary” for Germany’s domestic security agency to keep close tabs on the party, which she said shared an ideology with the Nazis.

Members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is currently riding high in opinion polls, reportedly discussed the mass deportation of foreigners as well as “non assimilated citizens” at the meeting with extremists, including a prominent Austrian far-right leader.

Since news of the meeting was leaked last week by investigative media outlet Correctiv, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Germany to protest against the party.

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Speaking to parliament, Faeser slammed the AfD for what she called “right-wing extremist networking”, warning that “it will in no way be tolerated”.

“Those who fantasise about reconquering and remigration are drawing on the same ideas that paved the way for the inhuman racial laws of the Nazis” she said, adding that “no participant in such a meeting can claim ignorance”.

Germany will use “all the instruments available… including criminal law and bans on associations” to defend its democracy, Faeser added.

The AfD has been classified by Germany’s domestic security agency as a “suspected case” of right-wing extremism, allowing intelligence agents to ttap its communications and possibly use undercover informants.

Faeser on Thursday defended the move for close surveillance of the party as “right and necessary”.

The report by Correctiv created a shockwave in Germany at a time when the AfD is polling at between 21 and 23 percent nationally in terms of voting intentions.

The party has more than 30 percent support in some parts of the former East Germany, where regional elections are due to be held later this year.

Correctiv reported that AfD officials met Martin Sellner, a leader of Austria’s white pride Identitarian Movement.

He had presented a plan to “reverse the inward migration of foreigners” and remove migrants and asylum seekers instead, it said.

The Identitarian Movement subscribes to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that claims there is a plot by non-white migrants to replace Europe’s “native” white population.

With several more mass protests planned this weekend, even football managers from Germany’s Bundesliga have joined calls for Germans to take to the streets.

“Anyone who does nothing now has learned nothing from school or history,” Freiburg manager Christian Streich said at a press conference on Thursday.