The German far-right party AfD is meeting in congress from Saturday June 29 to Sunday June 30 in Essen. In the past, these meetings have often been marked by violent internal conflicts and score-settling. If harmony prevailed within the party, it was not present outside, where several tens of thousands of people protested against the party congress: 28 police officers were injured, including two seriously, in clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.
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Access for some 550 delegates to the hall in Essen in the northwest of theGermany where the AfD congress was complicated: many were only able to enter thanks to police protection. Violence broke out on several occasions between anti-AfD demonstrators and the police, reports our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut.
Two police officers were hit in the head, including “ while they were on the ground “, the regional police said. Seriously injured » to the head, they had to be hospitalized.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has acknowledged the legitimacy of peaceful protests against the far right – ” Against right-wing extremism and racism, we need strong democratic forces and peaceful protests » -, but affirmed that “ nothing justified the violence “.
For the co-president of theAfD Alice Weidel, this has nothing to do with democracy “.
A thousand police officers were mobilized to ensure security in the city, where the authorities had said they feared “ potentially violent far-left troublemakers “On Saturday, however, most of the 50,000 protesters, according to the organizers, marched peacefully, carrying banners and placards that read: Resistance ! ” Or ” Together for democracy “. Police did not provide figures on the participants.
An atmosphere that contrasted with that of the congress
In the Gruga hall in Essen, where the party had been at loggerheads in 2015, harmony was the order of the day this time. After a campaign for the European elections marked by various scandals, the delegates pulled together and re-elected their leadership with a significantly higher score: the AfD achieved its best result in the last election, with 16% of the vote.
It is today the dominant force in the three regions of the former GDR where we will vote in September. “ We want to govern, first in the East, then in the West and at the federal level “, said Alice Weidel. A central mission of her new mandate will be to break the cordon sanitaire established by the other parties against the AfD.
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