Large-scale protests were held in Germany to coincide with the conference of the far-right Alternative Party, today, Saturday, which included separate confrontations that resulted in the injury of 11 members of the security forces.
The protesters blocked several roads in an attempt to prevent party delegates from reaching the conference headquarters, which continues until tomorrow, Sunday.
Violence and arrests occurred when “protesters, some of them masked, attacked the intervention forces,” the North Rhine-Westphalia state police reported on the X platform.
The police added that its officers had to use “pepper spray and batons,” noting that 11 of them were injured.
The police mobilized more than a thousand officers to confront the multiple demonstrations expected to be held on Saturday and Sunday, which may gather about 80,000 people, including “left-wing activists who could commit acts of violence,” according to Regional Interior Minister Herbert Reuel.
Fifty thousand protesters marched towards the conference hall on Saturday, according to organizers, carrying banners and signs reading “Resistance” and “Together for Democracy.” Police have not yet provided any figures.
“The Alternative for Germany is not welcome here. We stand for a society open to the world and democracy,” said Linda Kastrup, a spokeswoman for one of the associations.
The anti-immigrant party expects to win regional elections in three eastern German regions in September, but without achieving a result that would allow it to govern alone, knowing that other parties still refuse to cooperate with it.
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