Antifa Militants Clash With Police at AfD Conference in Germany
Violent far-left Antifa militants clashed with police and attacked journalists outside the Alternative for Germany party conference in Erfurt as 20,000 leftist protesters blockaded the event.
An estimated 20,000 leftist demonstrators gathered outside the Erfurt Exhibition Centre in the central German state of Thuringia as AfD delegates convened inside to select party leadership, according to Breitbart News. Police reported widespread disorder as black bloc-clad Antifa radicals staged blockades on roads leading to the conference venue.
The agitators brought traffic to a complete standstill on the A71 motorway near Gottstedt through a sit-in protest. Video footage from the scene showed leftist militants launching fireworks at police officers as makeshift projectiles, while crowds chanted hostile slogans including “Police are murderers and fascists.”
Journalists covering the demonstrations were specifically targeted by the mob, with protesters repeatedly shouting warnings to photographers to put their cameras away. Max Mannhart, editor-in-chief of the right-wing online platform Apollo News, reported that three of his reporters were hunted down and beaten up by Antifa militants.
Mannhart released video footage that appeared to document the alleged assaults. Police have confirmed that an incident took place but have not provided additional details about the attacks on media personnel.
The violent demonstrations drew participation from senior left-wing politicians, including federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider of the Social Democratic Party. The Erfurt native described the AfD conference as a threat to all of Germany and praised the collective mobilization against it.
Luke Hoß, a member of parliament for Die Linke, the successor party to East Germany’s former communist government, declared the protests a huge success. He claimed the demonstrations proved the left can stop what he called a fascist party.
Inside the conference hall, AfD leader Alice Weidel was re-elected as the party’s co-chair. Addressing the violent protests outside, she defied the intimidation tactics with a clear message: You won’t break us.
Weidel announced that party membership has surged from 50,000 paid members at the end of 2024 to 75,000 currently. She predicted that 100,000 paid members would soon become reality as the party continues its rapid growth trajectory.
The AfD leader described her party as the new people’s party in Germany, pointing to national polling that has consistently placed the AfD as the largest political force in the country at approximately 29 percent support for several months running.
Weidel asserted that the AfD stands ready to take responsibility because Germany deserves to be well governed. She sharply criticized the supposedly centre-right Christian Democratic Union party led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, accusing it of pursuing policies against the German people and against the interests of the country.
The AfD chair also took aim at the Social Democrats, noting that what was once a proud workers’ party is now quickly disappearing without a trace from German party history due to its betrayals of the working class.
With information from Breitbart News
