BERLIN — the extreme right Alternative for Germany re-elected its leadership duo on Saturday after the party made gains in the recent European elections, while thousands of people protested against its convention and some demonstrators tried to block roads or clashed with police.
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 15.9% of the vote and came second in the election. European Parliament elections on June 9, despite recent scandals and setbacks. That was down from its support in polls earlier in the year, but a particularly strong performance in the former communist east has bolstered its hopes of emerging as the strongest party in the three state elections to be held there in September.
At the usual two-day convention in the western city of Essen, co-chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla were elected unopposed to new two-year terms. They were backed by 79.8% and 82.7% of delegates respectively, a show of harmony by the party’s often argumentative standards.
Weidel promised to work to “tear down the indescribable firewalls” that other parties have erected against collaboration with the AfD.
There was a heavy police presence in Essen, where local authorities had tried to find a way to prevent the AfD event but lost the case in court. Organizers said a march through the city attracted about 50,000 people, while police did not immediately give an estimate, German news agency dpa reported. Thousands of people attended other protest events.
Protesters held sit-ins in streets and intersections near the convention hall.
Early Saturday morning, a group of protesters attempted to break through a barrier and were repulsed by police using pepper spray and batons. There were also incidents in which masked protesters attacked officers, according to police, who reported “several” arrests.
Two officers were kicked in the head as a politician was escorted through a group of protesters and were taken to a hospital, police said later Saturday, while seven others were slightly injured.
Weidel told delegates as he opened the meeting that “what is happening there has nothing to do with democracy” and said that “we are here and we will stay.”
AfD’s recent setbacks included the party shelving its two best candidates of the planned electoral campaign to the scandals and be expelled from his far-right group in the European Parliament.
Chrupalla said “we could have gotten 20%” in the European vote and complained that reporting on the two candidates was “unfair and disproportionate.” But she also acknowledged that “with careless and unprofessional behavior, some have unnecessarily offered space for attack.”
“This way we take two steps forward and one step back, but in the future we must take three steps forward,” he added, arguing that the party needs to look more closely at its candidates.
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