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Police officers guard as protesters block a road during a rally against party convention of Alternative for Germany, or AfD in Erfurt, Germany, Saturday, July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi<\/p>\n
Alice Weidel, group leader of the AfD, right, and Tino Chrupalla, chairman of the AfD, attend the AfD party convention at the Erfurt Exhibition Center, Erfurt. Germany, Saturday July 4, 2026. (Katharina Kausche\/dpa via AP)<\/p>\n
Katharina Kausche\/Katharina Kausche\/DPA via AP<\/p>\n
A protester with a poster reads: “Bjoern Hoecke is a Nazi” attend a rally against a party convention of Alternative for Germany, or AfD in Erfurt, Germany, Saturday, July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi<\/p>\n
Protesters gather before a party convention of Alternative for Germany, or AfD in Erfurt, Germany, Saturday, July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi<\/p>\n
Police officers clash with protesters during a rally against a party convention of Alternative for Germany, or AfD in Erfurt, Germany, Saturday, July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi<\/p>\n
ERFURT, Germany (AP) \u2014 Delegates at the national convention of the far-right Alternative for Germany party on Saturday overwhelmingly reelected its leaders, including Alice Weidel, as tens of thousands of protesters aimed to disrupt the meeting and some clashed with police.<\/p>\n
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Alternative for Germany, or AfD, sought to show unity as it voted to extend the terms of Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, who have headed it for four years as co-leaders and ran unopposed Saturday. Weidel was reelected with 81% of the vote, while Chrupalla earned 70%. German parties elect their leaders every two years.<\/p>\n
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The demonstrations outside the convention in the eastern city of Erfurt reflected how AfD has divided Germany even while becoming the biggest opposition party nationally and the strongest political force in Germany\u2019s formerly communist east.<\/p>\n
Saturday’s event was able to start on time despite the protests, which party officials hailed their \u201cfundamental, legally guaranteed right to hold party conventions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no peaceful seated blockades. There are no democratic roadblocks. Nor are there any gangs of thugs who deserve the harmless label \u2018civil society.\u2019 These troublemakers are the last resort of our political rivals,\u201d Chrupalla said.<\/p>\n
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The weekend convention drew additional controversy by coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of a Nazi Party meeting held nearby that consolidated Adolf Hitler\u2019s power over the fascist movement. Historians and political opponents say the timing carries powerful symbolism, an accusation the AfD rejects.<\/p>\n
AfD fights \u2018firewall\u2019 as its support rises<\/p>\n
AfD achieved second place in the February 2025 national election with 20.8% of the vote, the best showing by a far-right party since World War II. Since then support has risen to first among the nation’s political parties.<\/p>\n
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Despite the growing support, some want to see the party banned and protesters this weekend are likely to underline those calls. But Germany\u2019s supreme court previously has set a very high bar for banning parties.<\/p>\n
Although Weidel said recently that \u201c2026 is a year of destiny for AfD,\u201d mainstream parties say they won\u2019t work with AfD in a stance often referred to as a \u201cfirewall\u201d against far-right parties.<\/p>\n
Police said some 31,000 people attended Saturday’s protest rallies, German news agency dpa reported. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with protesters holding signs such as “Stop AfD Nazis\u201d and “For Diversity, Against Nazis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lena Raupach, spokesperson for widersetzen, an anti-fascist alliance whose name translates to \u201cresist,\u201d said the group had hoped to block the convention.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe AfD pursues fascist policies: It wants mass deportations and terror on the streets. At the same time, however, it doesn\u2019t solve a single real problem,” she said. \u201cIt pursues policies that benefit the rich, not ordinary citizens. And we at widersetzen want a society in which all people have equal opportunities and equal security. We want a society based on solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency, announced last year that it had classified AfD as a proven right-wing extremist group, but suspended the designation after a legal challenge. In February, a Cologne court said the agency can\u2019t use the designation while the court evaluates the party\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n
AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and argues the agency is being used as a political instrument by mainstream parties.<\/p>\n
Upcoming state election could bring a major win<\/p>\n
AfD is capitalizing on the unpopularity of a government that is trying to reform the sluggish economy. The party has become adept at harnessing discontent with issues well beyond its signature theme of curbing migration, which powered its rise in the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n
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AfD hopes to win 40% or more of the vote in a Sept. 6 state election in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt. That could put the party on course for an absolute majority or in a position where it might try to attract defectors from other parties, paving the way for its first state governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will win. Maybe we\u2019ll be able to govern alone soon,\u201d Chrupalla said. \u201cThat would send the right message to the enemies of democracy out there who wanted to prevent our party convention from taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party, which has long called for lifting sanctions against Russia and opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine, also has supported the general approach of U.S. President Donald Trump while criticizing the war in Iran launched by the Trump administration and Israel.<\/p>\n
Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke, one of the party\u2019s regional leaders, repeatedly said in his speech Saturday that AfD wants to make Germany great again, a reference to Trump’s MAGA platform, and at least one attendee wore a hat with a \u201cMake Germany Great Again\u201d logo.<\/p>\n
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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Philipp Reissfelder in Berlin contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police officers guard as protesters block a road during a rally against party convention of Alternative for Germany,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[80018,128209,128210,145,69969,128208,128211,23681,59373,59371,86159,61262,82,84,83,128212],"class_list":["post-361044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-adolf-hitler","tag-alice-weidel","tag-bjorn-hocke","tag-donald-trump","tag-germany","tag-germany-afd-convention-far-right-protests-elections","tag-lena-raupach","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-32502-ap-online-europe-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-tino-chrupalla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}