Riot police in the German city of Erfurt clashed with opponents of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on Saturday, as thousands of protesters attempted to block delegates from attending the party's biennial national conference to elect its leadership. Police reported that 20,000 demonstrators gathered in the eastern city, where Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla were expected to be re-elected as co-leaders ahead of crucial regional elections in which the AfD could win state-level power for the first time.
Protest tactics and police response
The protesters, led by the 'Resistance' alliance, staged sit-in blockades in the city centre, with some abseiling from a motorway bridge and others gluing themselves to tram tracks to cause disruption. Thousands of police were deployed, and some officers were filmed using batons on protesters who ran towards them, while others struggled to hold back crowds. Despite these clashes, a police spokesperson told Die Zeit that the demonstration had been 'mostly peaceful', adding that just under 100 offences had been recorded, many of them property damage by graffiti.
AfD conference proceeds despite disruptions
Despite the protesters' efforts, an AfD spokesperson told reporters that 540 delegates had managed to reach the conference centre before 5am, and the congress began on time. The party's decision to hold its conference on the centennial of a Nazi party conference in nearby Weimar, where Adolf Hitler unveiled the Hitler Youth movement and introduced the Hitler salute, caused outrage in Germany. Historians and politicians said the timing was a deliberate provocation, which the AfD denied, describing its critics as 'clearly only interested in the compulsive weaponisation of history'. Opponents of the AfD accuse the party of promoting racist and anti-Muslim policies and are angered by its politicians downplaying Nazi crimes.
Political figures join protests
Protesters in Erfurt included federal environment minister Carsten Schneider and Thuringia's interior minister Georg Maier, who gathered at a second demonstration march organised by the 'Standing Together' alliance, where 'Grandmas Against the Right' waved homemade signs. 'It's important to send a signal against the shift to the right,' said Lene Krug, 19, from Gera, east of Erfurt. 'The AfD is an anti-democratic party that spreads hate.' Another protester, who glued themselves to tram tracks, told AFP: '1933 to 1945 must never happen again,' referring to the Nazi era. Ella, 44, who gave only her first name, added: 'The democratic parties need to understand that they must impose a ban on the AfD.'
AfD leaders defend party conference
In his opening speech, Chrupalla accused demonstrators of protesting 'against democratic decision-making'. He said: 'They believe they have a monopoly on democracy. To these demonstrators I say: this democracy is just as much our democracy as it is yours.' Holding party conferences is a 'guaranteed right', he added, according to Die Zeit. 'These troublemakers are the last line of defence for our political competition.' He then called on supporters to help his party win an absolute majority in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections. 'That would send the right signal to the democracy-haters out there who wanted to prevent our party conference.' Describing his dual leadership with Weidel as 'a successful duo the likes of which German politics has rarely seen', he added: 'We stand for unity, not division.'
