The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) opened its national conference Saturday with a strong focus on upcoming elections, pressing ahead despite mass protests, a major police presence and legal challenges surrounding the event.
Riding momentum ahead of regional elections in several German states later this year, the party began its convention in the eastern city of Erfurt with an upbeat and confident message.
AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla expressed optimism about the party’s prospects, telling delegates, “Perhaps we will soon be able to govern on our own.” Addressing the party’s lead candidates in Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, he added, “You are our hope this year,” before declaring, “We will win.”
Chrupalla also rejected reports of divisions within the party leadership, particularly speculation about tensions between himself and co-chair Alice Weidel.
“Our party is more united than ever before,” he said.
Meanwhile, Weidel challenged the party’s political opponents and counterprotesters outside the conference in Erfurt.
“You won’t bring us down! Quite the opposite, we’re getting stronger and bigger all the time!” she shouted to the hall, drawing loud cheers.
She called on party members to bathe the country in black, red and gold, the colors of the German flag. Many delegates responded by waving German flags.
Weidel said the AfD now has 75,000 members, up significantly from about 50,000 in 2024.
Later Saturday, party leaders were due to be re-elected, while delegates were also set to fill 12 additional positions on the executive board.
The new board will also address party business, including membership rules.
Chrupalla referred to the thousands of demonstrators outside, praising delegates for arriving before protesters who sought to block access roads to the event.
“The early bird catches the worm. The Antifa rioters overslept their own disruption tactics,” he said.
Before the conference was due to begin, growing numbers of demonstrators gathered in downtown Erfurt. Police said more than 200 buses carrying protesters had arrived and earlier estimated that about 20,000 people were taking part in the demonstrations.
To avoid blockades, hundreds of AfD delegates gathered at meeting points outside the city before 4:00 a.m. (2:00 a.m. GMT) and traveled by police-escorted coaches to the venue. By 8:00 a.m., protests had made it difficult to reach the site.
Police said two large demonstrations and several blockades were underway and that no orders to disperse had been issued. A dpa reporter saw police officers pull or carry away individual demonstrators who were blocking the progress of another march.
Security authorities had anticipated up to 50,000 counterprotesters.
Several thousand police officers from across Germany were deployed to Erfurt to support the local force.
Thuringia Interior Minister Georg Maier said police had been preparing for weeks for the large-scale security operation surrounding the party conference. He reiterated his appeal for demonstrators to protest peacefully.
Even as two large demonstrations and several blockades were underway, a legal battle continued over the protests and the legality of blocking certain routes.
Police said Saturday morning that a ban on demonstrations along several access roads to the conference venue remained in force after the city appealed a court ruling that had struck it down.
The anti-immigrant AfD became Germany’s largest opposition party after posting the strongest result by a far-right party since World War II in last year’s general election.
The party has continued to capitalize on the poor approval ratings of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government, which has struggled to present a united front and deliver swift solutions to Germany’s economic problems.
However, the AfD remains highly controversial. All mainstream parties have ruled out cooperating with it, citing what they describe as its anti-democratic and extremist positions, particularly on migration.
Many critics want the party banned, even as it continues to gain support. The AfD is targeting an outright majority in September’s regional election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, a result that could allow it to lead a state government for the first time.
DAILYSABAH
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