Thousands protest in Germany as far-right AfD holds annual conference

Thousands protest in Germany as far-right AfD holds annual conference

Tens of thousands of demonstrators blocked highways and disrupted public transport in the eastern city of Erfurt on Saturday, July 4, 2026, to protest the annual conference of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Protesters from left-wing parties, unions, and civil society groups staged sit-in blockades and abseiled from a motorway bridge to obstruct routes leading to the convention center.

Police estimated 31,000 people participated in the demonstrations, though organizers claimed at least 50,000 attended. Despite the blockades, many delegates arrived in the early hours, and the two-day event opened on schedule. Police deployed thousands of officers, including reinforcements from across Germany, and reported using pepper spray during isolated clashes.

The AfD began its proceedings by re-electing co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.

National Ambitions and Regional Targets

Under the leadership of Weidel and Chrupalla, the AfD has surged to the top of national opinion polls. Recent data puts AfD support as high as 29%, compared to around 22% for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU conservatives. The party's strongest support remains in the former communist east, where surveys indicate high levels of voter disillusionment with the traditional party system.

The party also seeks success in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to pave the way for national victory.

During opening speeches, party leaders mocked protesters as anti-democratic and painted mainstream rivals as out of touch. Alice Weidel framed the party's rise as a necessity, stating:

"For this remains our last chance to save our country. More and more people in this country want to support us in the fight against Germany’s decline, in the fight for our fatherland and for our identity."

Alice Weidel, AfD co-leader, via Reuters

Hardline Rhetoric and Internal Conflict

The conference emphasized a strict stance on immigration. Minutes before the event opened, a song titled Send them back played on the party's social media stream. Inside the venue, vintage-style cards were sold featuring the slogan YOU will be deported.

Weidel further asserted that criminals and illegal migrants have no place in Germany any more and vowed that the party would deport them rigorously.

Bjoern Hoecke, described as one of the party's most radical leaders, combined nostalgia with critiques of national decline, citing the state of motorway toilets as evidence of malaise. He described a great Germany as a place where citizens do not fear walking in city parks at night and can leave apartment keys hanging on the outside of doors.

A History of Escalation

The Erfurt protests follow a pattern of massive civil unrest against the AfD. In early 2024, a report by the investigative group Correctiv revealed party members had discussed remigration plans involving the mass deportation of foreign-born Germans, including citizens. This sparked the largest civil society protest movement of the postwar period, with approximately 4 million people attending over 1,800 protests between mid-January and April 2024.

A second wave of protests occurred in early 2025, shortly before the February 23 federal election, after Friedrich Merz and the CDU supported a proposal to tighten immigration policy with AfD assistance. These Brandmauer-Demos sought to uphold the firewall strategy, where mainstream parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD to isolate it from coalition governments.

Opponents, including the umbrella group Widersetzen, argue that fascism is on the rise. Georg Becker, a spokesperson for the group, stated that they won't tolerate this. Critics accuse the party of promoting racist policies that threaten the constitutional order.

The AfD denies opposing democratic foundations. Earlier this year, the party won a court injunction that forced the domestic intelligence service to suspend a classification of the party as extremist.