Thousands protest in Erfurt ahead of AfD conference and eastern state elections

Thousands of opponents of Germany's Alternative for Germany, or AfD, gathered in Erfurt on Saturday and blocked roads leading to the party's annual conference. Police were deployed in large numbers, including reinforcements from across the country, as demonstrators sat in rows to stop access to the convention centre. Officers in riot gear watched the protests as the two-day meeting got under way.

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Police estimated that around 15,000 people took part in demonstrations in and around the eastern city. The protesters included unions, civil society groups and left-wing parties, according to the report. A spokesperson for the anti-AfD umbrella group Widersetzen, or Resist, said the aim was to show that fascism was not acceptable in Germany.

The conference is expected to re-elect co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. The protests come at a politically sensitive moment for the AfD, which is seeking to build on its strength ahead of elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The party hopes those contests will help pave the way for greater success at national level.

It has become a major force in German politics over the past decade and is now polling ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives in some surveys. Its rise has been driven by nationalist rhetoric, tougher immigration demands and appeals to voters frustrated by economic stagnation. The AfD remains isolated by Germany's mainstream parties under a so-called firewall strategy that rules out cooperation and coalition deals.

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Critics accuse the party of promoting racist policies and attitudes that are incompatible with democratic values and could threaten the constitutional order. The party rejects those accusations and says it does not oppose Germany's democratic foundations. Earlier this year, it won a court injunction requiring the domestic intelligence service to suspend a previous classification of the party as extremist.

The scale of the police operation underlines the sensitivity of the event in a country where the AfD has made strong gains in some regional contests. The party also performed well in two western state elections earlier this year, but its strongest support remains in the former communist east, where dissatisfaction with the traditional party system is high. That regional divide is one reason the upcoming elections are being watched closely by both supporters and opponents of the party.

What remains unclear is whether the blockades will affect the full running of the conference and how long the demonstrations will continue. The immediate focus is on the party meeting in Erfurt and the response from police as the event continues over two days. The wider political test will come in the eastern state elections, where the AfD is hoping to convert its polling strength into governing power.

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