A two-day party conference of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) set to begin on Saturday in the eastern city of Erfurt is expected to be met by major protests.
The anti-migrant AfD became the country’s biggest opposition party after scoring the best result ever for a far-right party in Germany since World War II in last year’s general election.
The party has been able to further capitalize on the poor approval ratings of the coalition government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, which has struggled to present a united front and find swift solutions to Germany’s economic woes.
However, the AfD remains highly controversial, with all mainstream parties having ruled out cooperation over what they consider the party’s anti-democratic and extremist views, particularly on migration.
Many want the party banned, while it continues to see growing support elsewhere, eyeing a potential absolute majority in a regional vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in September, which could see it lead a regional government for the first time.
At the convention in Erfurt, where AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla are expected to be re-elected, police are expecting 50,000 mostly peaceful counter-demonstrators, but also up to 2,500 activists prepared to use violence and set up barricades.
Several thousand officers from across the country have been deployed to Erfurt to support the local force.
A group of protest organizations known as the Widersetzen – resist – alliance has announced plans to block access routes to the Erfurt Exhibition Centre in a bid to prevent the party conference from taking place.