‘We won’t tolerate this’: thousands in Germany protest against far-right AfD
The party’s annual conference comes ahead of state elections the AfD hopes will help pave the way for success at national level
Thousands protested against Germany’s far-right AfD and blocked roads to its annual conference in the eastern city of Erfurt on Saturday, where the party re-elected the two leaders who have overseen its rise as a national force.
Protesters from unions, civil society groups and left-wing parties gathered as large numbers of police, including reinforcements from across Germany, were deployed ahead of the AfD’s two-day conference. AfD stands for Alternative for Germany.
Watched by police in riot gear, protesters sat in rows to block highways and roads leading to the convention centre where the meeting is being held. Police estimated around 15,000 people joined demonstrations in and around the eastern city.
The AfD launched the event by re-electing party chiefs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, under whose leadership the AfD has surged to the top of national opinion polls ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives.
The opening speeches mocked and lambasted the protesters as anti-democratic. They revelled in the AfD’s rise that could see the party taking power in regional elections this year for the first time, while painting their mainstream rivals as tired, out of touch and leading Germany into decline.
“For this remains our last chance to save our country,” Weidel said. “More and more people in this country want to support us in the fight against Germany’s decline, in the fight for our fatherland and for our identity.”