Germany’s political system is set up to exclude extremists. Yet the country is waking up to a new political reality that has lurched to the right with the once outcast Alternative for Germany (AfD) party now firmly established in German politics.

The far-right group has learned to communicate in a country where traditional media no longer shape public opinion.

The AfD group in the Bundestag on Tuesday voted to accept Matthias Helferich, who is so divisive that officials from his own regional association attempted to expel him, alleging he referred to Germans descended from migrants as “beasts”.