The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) continued its national party conference in the western city of Essen on Sunday, amid massive anti-AfD protests, including occasional violent clashes.
On the second day of the meeting, the topic of debate was the party’s foreign policy orientation, for example regarding the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine.
A resolution, sponsored by party leader Alice Weidel, says Germany must break more strongly with US foreign policy and calls for an end to arms supplies to Ukraine.
The meeting comes ahead of state elections in September in the German states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, where the AfD is expected to perform strongly and compete for first place.
Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke, who is usually a prominent speaker at party meetings, kept a low profile at this year’s conference.
Höcke was recently criminally convicted for quoting the slogan of the Nazi SA stormtrooper group during a speech, and is currently on trial for a second case in which he quoted the same slogan.
Delegates reject restrictions on visits to Russia
Delegates at the party conference on Sunday rejected a proposal to impose stricter rules on foreign travel and interviews with foreign media for AfD politicians holding seats in parliament.
The proposal for stricter rules, put forward by several MEPs, comes after extensive negative media coverage surrounding trips to Russia and appearances in Russian state media by AfD politicians who have expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Florian Köhler, an AfD member of the Bavarian state parliament and a supporter of the motion, criticized “visits to regional dictators or autocrats” and said the party should focus more on the German homeland to avoid being seen by voters as surrogate agents of foreign states.
Under the rules, AfD MPs had to consult with the party leadership before giving interviews to foreign media, meeting foreign leaders abroad or going on trips “with a political connection”.
The motion also referred to the scandal-plagued AfD top candidate in the recent European Parliament elections, Maximilian Krah.
The AfD was expelled from the right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament after Krah made highly controversial comments defending members of the Nazi SS paramilitaries in an interview with an Italian newspaper.
Krah is also being investigated over possible payments from Russia and China to buy foreign influence, and has faced tough questions after a senior deputy was arrested by German police on suspicion of spying for China.
At the party congress, some leaders and delegates partly blamed Krah for the party’s performance in the European Parliament elections earlier this month. The AfD came in second with 15.9% of the vote, falling short of some polls and expectations.
AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla, for example, called on Saturday for better screening of candidates and said the AfD should have claimed more than 20% of the vote.
Fewer protests on drizzly Sunday
After mass protests against the party congress on Saturday, things initially remained calm around the Grugahalle in Essen on a rainy Sunday morning.
According to a dpa reporter, around 150 people took part in a vigil in sight of the Grugahalle in the morning. The organizer was the alliance “Essen Takes a Stand”.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people protested against the AfD party conference. According to police, 28 officers were injured in clashes, one seriously.
Large groups of people, sometimes as many as several hundred, repeatedly tried to use force to stop deputies or break barriers, police said Saturday evening.
“During these violent actions, our colleagues repeatedly had to use batons and irritating gas,” police said.
Demonstrators were also injured, for example by pepper spray.
An AfD delegate at the convention, Stefan Hrdy, admitted to dpa that he bit a protester in the leg during a scuffle outside the congress on Saturday, an incident captured on video published by the Bild newspaper.
Hrdy claimed he acted in self-defense after being attacked by protesters who tried to block access to the venue. Police in Essen said the incident was still under investigation.
Some delegates were escorted to the Grugahalle on foot under heavy police protection, harassed by demonstrators.
