The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) opened its party conference in Erfurt as scheduled on Friday, with protesters blocking roads around the venue since the morning.
The protesters hoped to prevent the conference from taking place. But hundreds of the approximately 600 delegates were already on their way by 4 a.m. local time (0200 UTC), traveling by bus under police escort. By 10 am the hall was packed and the proceedings began on time.
“Antifa rioters fell asleep despite their disruptive efforts,” AfD co-chair Tino Krupalla told delegates in his opening remarks. Antifa is an anti-fascist political movement originating in Germany.
Police had prepared for as many as 50,000 protesters over the weekend, although turnout so far appears to be well below that figure. The protests have been largely peaceful.
In his address, Kruppalla declared the party ready to “take over government responsibility”, which he described as new unity within the AfD and record voting numbers across the country. “Maybe we will rule soon,” he said.
The choice of place and time has drawn sharp criticism. The conference marks exactly 100 years since the Nazi Party (NSDAP) held its first national assembly since its founding – an event held in nearby Weimar in 1926, which historians credit with re-energizing Hitler’s movement at a critical juncture. AfD officials reject any suggestion of a connection between the two incidents.
Critics see it differently. The party’s decision to call the meeting in Weimar, near Erfurt, is “a very clear signal” according to one observer. Jens Christian Wagner, who leads the nearby Buchenwald Memorial, argued that the AfD is “not – at least not yet – ‘NSDAP 2.0′”, but said its rhetoric increasingly reflects the ethno-nationalist, authoritarian ideology of the 1920s and 30s, along with a pattern of downplaying and redefining Nazi-era crimes.