Demonstrators have blocked roads at 16 points around Giessen, while the first AfD delegates arrive under police protection. Up to 50,000 participants are expected for the day. The situation in the morning.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Germany's central city of Giessen on Saturday to protest against the launch a new youth organisation of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
A group of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the city, delaying many delegates' arrival. The start of the event was reportedly postponed by more than two hours.
According to the police, traffic on motorways and federal and state roads was "massively" disrupted. In the city itself, a bus blocked a roundabout.
The "Resist" alliance, who organised the protest, reported blockades at 16 points.
Police said they used pepper spray after officers were pelted with stones at one location. In another case, police said they used water cannons to clear a blockade by some 2,000 protesters after they ignored calls to leave.
AfD's leaders condemned the protests as the meeting opened at the city's convention center. “What is being done out there, dear left-wingers, dear extremists, you need to look at yourselves, is something that is deeply undemocratic,” party co-leader Alice Weidel said.
Numerous organisations involved
A range of organisations took to the streets in protest of the launch of the youth organisation. Visible among the crowd were signs from “Grandmothers Against the Right,” Sea-Watch, the Socialist German Student Union, and the GEW teachers’ union. Palestinian flags were also present.
“We will not allow the next generation of violent fascists to organise, [...]. Right now, tens of thousands of people from Giessen and across Germany are standing in their way," Suraj Mailitafi, spokesperson for the "Resist" alliance, said.
Bundestag member Janine Wissler (The Left Party) also attended as a parliamentary observer. She told local news organisation Hessenschau that she hoped to send a clear message against fascism, adding that the AfD is “not a normal party.”
Wissler expressed regret that demonstrations were not allowed directly in front of the exhibition halls and noted that she had not witnessed any violence so far.
"Basically, it's very clear to me that we are demonstrating here peacefully but resolutely, and sit-in blockades are completely fine."
Only about a third of the expected participants showed up
The first delegates started arriving to the congress hall on Saturday morning, they had been transported to the venue in police vehicles and entered the building through a side entrance.
Just before noon, AfD co-chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, along with Björn Höcke, the far-right Thuringian AfD leader, also reached the venue. They, along with other attendees, had been brought to the venue in 13 police buses and a dozen limousines.
Also present was Götz Kubitschek, considered a leading figure of the New Right and co-founder of the Institute for State Policy, a think tank classified as far-right.
According to Hessenschau, roughly 300 participants were initially on site, although around 1,000 people had been expected.
The congress agenda includes a vote on the youth statute, which will define the organisation’s self-conception, its affiliation to the party, its internal structure, and its future name. A board of directors is also to be elected. A decision on the organisation’s logo is expected at a later date.
Why the Young Alternative dissolved
The new youth organisation's predecessor had been the Young Alternative, a largely autonomous group with relatively loose links to the party. The group was dissolved at the end of March after AfD decided to formally cut ties with it.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency had concluded that the Young Alternative was a proven right-wing extremist group. It later classified AfD itself as such a group, but suspended the designation after AfD launched a legal challenge.
AfD now wants to have closer oversight over the new group, expected to be called Generation Germany.
AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla said the party must learn from past mistakes.
“Some benefited from the young, from their ability to mobilise, but didn't have the well-being and future of this youth sufficiently in sight,” he said. “We should have taken more care of the young new hopes in our party; it will be different in the future.” He added that the young activists must “put themselves at the party's service.”
It is common for German parties to have youth wings, which are often more politically radical than the parties themselves. It remains to be seen whether the new AfD youth organisation will be more moderate than its predecessor, with at least some continuity expected.