Overview
- The BfV, which said Tuesday it will drop the “delegitimizers” label, removed the topic from its website and will omit it from the next Verfassungsschutz report.
- The category began in 2021 during COVID‑19 protests to capture actors who mocked or denied the legitimacy of courts, parliament and government orders.
- The office said it will still track people from this scene if they act against the free democratic basic order, now within existing areas such as right‑wing extremism or Reichsbürger.
- The agency counted about 1,500 people in the category in 2024 after roughly 1,600 in 2023, including around 250 assessed as potentially violent.
- Saxony had already dropped the label months earlier, and critics from both left and right argued the category was vague and risked chilling lawful dissent.