Has Germany's 'firewall' against the far right been breached by AfD success?

Germany's main parties refuse to work with the far right, but the AfD wants to tear the firewall down.

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Riding on the back of that success, the party is now calling for an end to the consensus in German politics not to work with the far right.

That "firewall" - Brandmauer in German - has worked since the end of World War Two, but AfD joint leader Tino Chrupalla says: "Anyone who erects firewalls will get grilled behind them."

There is a determination among all of Germany's main parties to keep that block in place - and the German public backs them up: 69% see the AfD as a threat to democracy, according to voters surveyed on Sunday.

Friedrich Merz, who won the election for the conservatives, believes the only reason the AfD exists is because of problems such as migration and security that need to be addressed: "We need to resolve these problems... then that party, the AfD, will disappear."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9dl4drr8lo

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