Clashes between police and demonstrators ahead of AfD party conference – DW – 29.06.2024

Police used pepper spray and batons on Saturday to prevent a large group of demonstrators from breaking through a cordon in the western German city of Essen, where a two-day congress of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is due to begin.

It was not immediately clear whether protesters were injured in the incident, which occurred at about 5:45 a.m. (03:45 GMT).

A total of around 100,000 demonstrators are expected to attend the demonstrations in Essen against the anti-immigration, ultra-conservative party, which is gaining support especially in the former communist east of the country.

Although the organizers assure that the protests will be peaceful, the police fear violence from the approximately 1,000 left-wing extremists who also want to demonstrate.

Around 600 AfD delegates are meeting in a covered arena. Party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla are seeking re-election before the federal election in autumn next year.

High security presence

Several thousand police officers are on duty to ensure security during the protests.

A large demonstration was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. local time at the main train station.

Around 5,000 demonstrators took part in a musical rally on Friday evening under the motto “Bass against Hate”.

The AfD is being monitored by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) as a suspected right-wing extremist organization. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns that the party poses a racist, anti-Semitic and anti-democratic threat to Germany.

Despite such warnings and a series of scandals, the party came second in Germany in the European elections on 9 June and even first in the five former communist eastern federal states.

They are also likely to become the strongest party in three of these eastern German states – Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg – in the September elections, as there are fears that other parties may not be able to form a stronger governing coalition.

tj/kb (AFP, dpa)

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