Overview
- Around 20,000 protesters converged on Erfurt on Saturday, blocking major roads and disrupting public transport in coordinated attempts to stop the AfD meeting.
- Most party delegates reached the congress centre under heavy police escort and the two co‑chairs were scheduled for re‑election on the opening day.
- Demonstrators used direct-action tactics such as rappelling from a highway bridge and gluing themselves to tram rails while thousands of police guarded access and only minor scuffles were reported.
- Escalatory rhetoric from some AfD figures, including a post by MP Beatrix von Storch referencing a 'countdown to civil war,' has heightened tensions as critics note the timing near a 100-year-old Nazi congress anniversary and the party denies any deliberate provocation.
- The episode is a public-order test for Germany and a sign of the AfD's growing strength in the east, with reporting differences over crowd size and police tactics underscoring how the event is shaping debate ahead of September regional votes.