Thousands of opponents of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party blocked roads leading to the party’s annual conference ahead of regional elections in the state of Thuringia.
An estimated 20,000 people flocked to Erfurt on Saturday, according to German police. Protesters from unions, civil society groups and left-wing parties gathered in the city center, with police reporting several street blockades.
“We want to make it clear that we simply won’t tolerate this, that fascism is on the rise here in Germany,” Georg Becker, a spokesperson for the anti-AfD umbrella group Widersetzen (“Resist”), told Reuters.
Large police forces, including reinforcements from across Germany, were deployed ahead of the two-day conference. Police told dpa they counted more than 200 buses of protesters arriving in Erfurt.
Protesters blocked routes into the city, with some abseiling from a motorway bridge. Several groups staged sit-in blockades around the city center, AFP reported. The Associated Press said some protesters clashed with police in riot gear.
Despite the protests, most AfD delegates managed to reach the conference center, and party representatives said the congress began on time.
The AfD became the second largest party in last year’s elections, scoring the best result for a far-right party since World War II. Opinion polls suggest the party has opened a clear lead over Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives, partially driven by years of economic stagnation.
The AfD is likely to take power at a state level for the first time in Saxony-Anhalt, paving the way for more success nationally. All mainstream parties have ruled out cooperating with the AfD over its “anti-democratic” and “extremist” views.
Protesters in Erfurt are calling for the party to be banned. “The AfD wants mass deportations and ethnic cleansing,” Noa Sander, another spokesperson for the Resist protest alliance, told AFP, referring to the party’s “remigration” demands. “It should be banned. We intend to do this by blockading their party conference and standing in the way of the AfD, its policies and members wherever they appear,” Sander said.
Source: www.aljazeera.com