Washington/Berlin, May 3 (Reporter) Germany has received heavy criticism from the US administration, after its counter-intelligence wing classified the country’s right-wing party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as extremist. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move “tyranny in disguise”, while Vice President JD Vance accused German “bureaucrats” of “rebuilding the Berlin Wall.” In the parliamentary elections on February 23, the AfD came in second, winning a record 152 seats in the 630-seat parliament with 20.8% of the vote, following the CDU/CSU bloc winning the election through a vote share of 28.6%. The AfD had already been given the extremist tag on Friday by Germany’s domestic agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) on grounds of alleged racism, and its anti-Muslim stance. The agency had classed the AfD as a right-wing extremist party in three eastern states where its popularity is highest. The designation gives liberty to German authorities to tap calls of the AfD members, and run surveillance on them. The extremist classification was severely criticised by the AfD, with joint party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla saying that the decision was "clearly politically motivated" and a "severe blow to German democracy". Beatrix von Storch, the party's deputy parliamentary leader, told the BBC's Newshour programme that the designation was "the way an authoritarian state, a dictatorship, would treat their parties". Heavily critiquing the decision, Rubio wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) “Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That's not democracy -- it's tyranny in disguise,” he wrote. He added “What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.” JD Vance echoing Rubio’s statement wrote “The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. “Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it. The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt—not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment.” The German Foreign Office defended the decision, saying that the designation was given only after a “thorough and independent investigation." "We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped,” the FO replied to Rubio on X. The new designation has reignited calls to ban the AfD ahead of a vote next week in the parliament, or Bundestag, to confirm conservative leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor. He will be leading a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). Lars Klingbeil, the SPD leader who is expected to become vice-chancellor and finance minister, said that while no hasty decision would be made, the government would consider banning the AfD, BBC reported. "They want a different country, they want to destroy our democracy. And we must take that very seriously," he told Bild newspaper...////...