29 November 2025
The founding conference of the AfD youth party is being protested in Giessen
A two-day founding conference of young members of the far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is attracting huge crowds of protesters in the central German city of Giessen, a university town of 90,000 in the state of Hesse.
The AfD’s former youth group “Young Alternative” was disbanded after it was labeled a “proven right-wing extremist” organization by Germany’s domestic intelligence services.
On Saturday morning, police reported clashes with protesters who had set up road blockades and were “massively” disrupting traffic around the city.
In one example, protesters used a bus to block entry and exit at an intersection, immediately causing traffic chaos. Police described an “active situation with multiple different locations.”
He said freeways and other major thoroughfares were affected throughout the city.
Police said officers used pepper spray after they were attacked with rocks in the early morning.
Some groups announced their intention to prevent AfD members from entering the convention hall of Giessen in order to prevent them from setting up a new group.
A spokesperson for the group confirmed that the start of the conference had been delayed.
The new organization will be named “Generation Germany”, and will be led by Jean-Pascal Hohm.
Domestic intelligence services in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where Hohm serves as a state representative, say he is also a “confirmed right-wing extremist.”
Hesse Interior Minister Roman Posek says police are preparing for a “large-scale challenging situation” in Giessen.
Several thousand police officers from all 16 German states as well as federal police forces are expected to be on duty Saturday.
More than 20 protests were recorded in the city and organizers of the three largest protests complained that the city had “driven away democratic protesters” on one side of the Lahn river and was allowing “fascists” to gather peacefully on the other side.