Thousands protest against far-right AfD party convention

euronews (in English)

Thousands protest against far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party convention in Essen, following the parties successful European election performance.

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00:00The far-right Alternative for Germany party faced thousands of protesters in the western

00:06German city of Essen as it hosted a weekend convention.

00:10Re-elected party leader Alice Weidel said the northern European country was in desperate

00:15need for a political shake-up.

00:17Germany needs a second 1989-1990.

00:24Party membership has grown significantly since 2023, AFD officials said.

00:29This support tracks with recent European parliamentary election results showing the

00:34political group garnered the second-highest amount of German votes.

00:38AFD polled well ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats.

00:42I believe that not everything has been done correctly from all the parties, from all democratic

00:48parties, but we have to show that we work together.

00:51The problems are so complex when it comes to migration and climate change and poverty

00:56that people just believe the easy answer, but the answers aren't very easy most of

01:01the times.

01:02This conference is so controversial that the city tried to stop it.

01:06It tried to cancel the rental contract for the building where the conference is taking

01:09place saying it was concerned that criminal offences could happen, such as the use of

01:14Nazi slogans.

01:15But the AFD sued and won.

01:18The protest reached fever pitch when several demonstrators tried to block roads and clashed

01:24with police, with several officers injured, according to local authorities.

01:30Although the AFD has made gains within European Parliament, the party has also been plagued

01:35by high-profile scandals and criminal allegations.

01:39Anti-AFD protest organisers believe their demonstrations are helping shift public opinion.

01:47We've seen that those protests that we've been organising here over the last six months

01:51have succeeded, and that's what we're here for, to convince them that there are other

01:55solutions than voting for the AFD.

01:58The AFD offers short-term solutions, but they do not think about the problems that come

02:02with that.

02:03They offer simple solutions that seem easy at the beginning, but if you think about it

02:07in the long term, they're not going to work.

02:11The next critical local German elections are due to be held in the country's east in September,

02:17a locale that has traditionally favoured AFD.

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