State elections have propelled Alternative für Deutschland, or A-f-D, into Berlin’s legislature for the first time.<br /><br /> In some districts of the capital, over 50 percent of voters chose the party. They are now in ten of Germany’s sixteen state parliaments.<br /><br /> So who are the supporters of A-f-D? And why do they back a party said to be anti-refugee and anti-Islam?<br /><br /> ‘I wouldn’t say we are Islamophobic’<br /><br /> We caught up with some A-f-D supporters at a street festival in East Berlin – just before the state elections.<br /><br /> One teacher, who spoke to insiders, said he had never belonged to a political party before. <br /><br /> “I support AfD because I feel the politics of the traditional parties are ‘supposedly’ without alternatives,” said Stefan Kretschmer, an Alternative für Deutschland member.<br /><br /> “The saving of the Euro, the saving of Greece, the refugee crisis, all this is without alternatives. But nothing is without an alternative.”<br /><br /> An alternative to mainstream politics. But also an alternative to a country changing too fast, especially when it comes to refugees and migrants. <br /><br /> “Berlin has to become clean again. There are so many things where we have put the wrong priority. At a community level but also at a regional level,” said Marianne Kleinert, another Alternative für Deutschland member.<br /><br /> “The distribution of refugees, out of all those refugee centres that are being built, mainly in the East of Berlin, without consulting the citizens.” <br /><br /> Another member, Herbert Mohr, added: “I wouldn’t say we are Islamaphobic, we are a critic of Islam. Every Muslim who is living in Germany and who is practicing his religion is completely accepted. <br /><br /> “But we say that Islam as a religion is not rooted and based in Germany ‘s culture. In Germany there is the notion of western Judeo-Christianism and that’s the way we want to keep it.”<br /><br /> A polite way of saying Islam is not compatible with German culture? Yet not everyone agrees.<br /><br /> For far-left protesters, A-f-D is no alternative. It’s provocative, divisive and extreme. <br /><br /> Labels one A-f-D supporter denies.<br /><br /> “They yelled at us, calling us Nazis and racists. All these lies, I, we altogether refuse this. We aren’t. But they give us this label,” said A-f-D member Stefan Kretschmer.<br /><br /> The migrant and refugee effect<br /><br /> There is no denying that the A-f-D is drawing more and more support from Germans fed up with centre-right and centre left political parties.<br /><br /> But it has also gained support riding on a political platform which blames refugees and migrants for draining Germany’s social welfare budget.<br /><br /> Frauke Petry who heads the the A-f-D is not without controversy. Her alleged call to allow police as a last resort to open fire on refugees at the border was branded as far-right and populist. <br /><br /> She’s been compared to other European populist leaders who use a far-right, anti-refugee, anti-immigrant rhetoric to garner votes.<br /><br /> Euronews’ Valerie Zabriskie put to her: “There is talk of the growing success of certain far right parties i
