Germans rise up in protest against far-right party convention in Germany

Thousands of people protested against a convention of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Saturday, blocking several roads and delaying the start of the meeting, where the party launched its campaign for February elections.

A heavy police presence was seen on Saturday in Riesa – in the eastern state of Saxony – which is an AfD stronghold. Police removed some of the protesters from the streets.

However, the two-day convention started about two hours late, as many of the delegates did not arrive on time due to the blockades.

The AfD has officially nominated its co-chair, Alice Weidel, as its candidate for chancellor of Germany. Weidel thanked delegates for "challenging the left-wing crowd to get here."

Polls show the AfD in second place ahead of the February 23 election, with support of around 20 percent.

However, Weidel – who this week held a live X chat with tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has endorsed her party – has no realistic chance of becoming Germany's leader, as other parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD.

It is the main opposition party, the Union bloc, which is leading in the polls with around 30 percent and its candidate, Friedrich Merz, is the favorite to become the next chancellor.

The union is focusing on reviving Germany's stagnant economy and limiting irregular immigration.

On Saturday, Weidel criticized it as a "party of frauds," calling on people to "vote for the real thing" and strengthen her party.

Weidel called for closing Germany's borders to unauthorized immigrants and for the deportation of asylum seekers.

She promised to restore the Nord Stream pipeline, which was damaged in the 2022 explosions, shortly after Russia cut off Germany's gas supplies. Weidel was met with loud applause when she said the AfD would tear down all the wind turbines - which she described as "windmills of shame" - if she came to power.

At a press conference in Hamburg, Merz focused on his party's offer of "profound changes" after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unstable and contested center-left coalition collapsed.

Scholz is hoping for a surprise victory, but polls show support for his Social Democrats at between 14-17 percent.

His government fell in November when he fired his finance minister after a disagreement over how to revive the economy, leading Germany to snap elections.

Scholz admitted on Saturday that mistakes had been made and said that "perhaps I should have broken up the coalition earlier."

But he said it was time to look ahead. "Let's fight," he told delegates at a party congress in Berlin, where he was officially confirmed as the candidate for chancellor.

He accused the Merz Union of lacking serious plans to deal with Germany's problems./ REL