“I have never seen so many police everywhere,” says Mohammed, a waiter at a terrace on the Kettwiger shopping street in central Essen. The city of almost 600,000 inhabitants is completely sealed off, with streets closed, underground lines closed and a huge police presence of 4,000 officers in riot gear, helicopters and drones. The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is holding its annual congress this weekend in this city at the heart of the former industrial Ruhr region amid fears among the authorities of violent clashes. Nearly 100,000 demonstrators are expected, including left-wing extremists and violent activists, according to the police.
Mohammed, of Algerian origin, smiles knowingly when asked what he thinks of so much deployment: “Instead of protecting the AfD, maybe they should protect us from them.” The authorities are focused on guaranteeing the security of the political event, which is organized just three weeks after the European elections that lifted the far-right party to second place, with 15.9% of the votes. In recent months it has been involved in various scandals that have provoked a public response, such as a secret meeting with well-known neo-Nazis in which there was talk of deporting millions of people of immigrant origin or some statements by its European candidate, Maximilan Krah, in the ones that whitewashed the Nazi SS.
The start of the congress ended with several people arrested who tried to block the entrance of the 600 delegates to the Grugahalle, the congress hall on the outskirts of the city where the event is being held. “Some demonstrators were wearing masks and attacked the police,” the Essen police reported on the social network X. In the early morning a group of people tried to break through one of the police cordons and the police responded with batons and pepper spray. Apart from these occasional disturbances, peaceful protests have been taking place throughout the city since Friday afternoon. Several tens of thousands of people marched this afternoon from the central station to the congress hall.
The banner that opened the march read: “Against hate and agitation.” The protesters chanted slogans such as “Everyone in Essen hates the AfD” and “We are all anti-fascists.” “We cannot remain silent in the face of people who pit us against each other,” said Lena Koch, a 19-year-old student. One of her friends carried a homemade banner that read “Höcke is a Nazi,” in reference to the leader of the group in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, recently convicted of using a well-known Nazi slogan in a speech.
Protest “camps” and sit-ins have been set up throughout the city, small concerts have been held, and at all hours several hundred people boo and whistle at the delegates from the police barrier. From inside the enclosure, several hundred meters away, you cannot hear them. The organization of the AfD congress represents a major challenge for those in charge of security, because it also coincides with the Germany-Denmark match in the Euro Cup this Saturday, which is being held a few kilometers from Essen, in Dortmund.
The city of Essen tried to prevent the AfD congress months ago, when the so-called Wannsee conference came to light in which there was talk of the “re-emigration” of millions of immigrants. As the main shareholder of the fairgrounds, the mayor (of the conservative CDU) tried to annul the rental contract. He argued that he intended to avoid the commission of crimes such as the dissemination of Nazi slogans within it. The party took the case to court and won. The mayor, Thomas Kufen, stated in a statement that he did not agree with the judges’ decision: “But ultimately we have to accept it,” he said.
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The 600 delegates will debate over the weekend issues such as the party’s stance on the European Union and Germany’s support for Ukraine. The AfD is against the sanctions policy against Russia and flatly rejects the shipment of arms to kyiv. This last issue is one of the “red lines” that, according to a senior party official, prevents the AfD from negotiating its entry into the European group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Identity and Democracy (ID) group, led by Marine Le Pen, expelled Alternative for Germany at the end of May following Krah’s controversial statements. Since then the ultra party has tried to ingratiate itself with the Frenchwoman again, without success so far. In parallel, AfD is trying to form its own group, which would be the third populist right-wing group in the European Parliament. AfD, co-president of the party, said this Saturday that negotiations with other parties – 23 MEPs from seven countries are needed – are on the right track.
The congress also discusses organizational issues, such as the renewal of its leadership. It was assumed that the current co-leaders, Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, would be re-elected, and so they have been. 82.7% of the delegates voted for Chrupalla, while Weidel obtained 79.9% approval. During the meeting, the creation of the position of general secretary from 2025 and the elimination of co-leadership to leave only a president – it is speculated that Weidel is the best positioned – at the top is also debated.
Officially, the result of the European elections has been an overwhelming success, but among senior party officials there are criticisms of the management of the campaign and the choice of candidates. “The surveys gave us 23%; The management has to ask itself why in the end we have remained at a disappointing 16%,” slips a person with responsibilities in training. The criticism focuses on Maximilan Krah, whom the party had to hide in the final stretch of the campaign and whom it ended up firing after the vote. “You already knew what kind of person he is; Why did we let him lead the European campaign?” asks the same source.
In their speeches, the AfD co-leaders called on Olaf Scholz’s coalition government to call for new elections and reiterated the anti-immigration messages that had been the focus of the weeks leading up to the vote. Weidel called for a 180-degree turn in migration policy. “We need to immediately deport 300,000 people who have to leave the country,” she said, referring to asylum seekers who have been denied asylum but who continue to reside in Germany. The AfD co-chair also said that “Germany needs border fences” and that naturalisations should be stopped immediately.
The formation is monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the German internal secret services, as an alleged far-right organization. Weidel called the office “an enemy of the Constitution” and said it “should be abolished in its current form,” prompting enthusiastic applause from delegates.
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