Mass protests expected as Germany's far-right AfD to found youth wing
In Germany, the far-right AfD party has firmly established itself in political life and is now among the frontrunners in many opinion polls. Now the AfD wants to found a new youth organization—but this is attracting significant protests.
Giessen (dpa) – Around 50,000 protesters are expected in a small German town this weekend as the far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) convenes to found a new youth wing. Giessen Mayor Frank-Tilo Becher has called on demonstrators to remain peaceful, warning that "the limits of the acceptable are exceeded when calls are made for violence or force is used."
Becher said the university town in the state of Hesse, was tense ahead of the weekend, with huge numbers of participants expected to join around 30 protests. Giessen has a population of around 90,000, more than a third of them are students.
The mayor said he was concerned that confidence in democracy was regularly under question. The question was whether Germans wanted to live "in an open, diverse and free society, or in a closed-off country in which many of us are no longer welcome and many things would no longer be allowed."
Future chairman is regarded as a “confirmed right-wing extremist”
The AfD is planning to establish a new countrywide youth organization called "Generation Germany." The group is to be headed by Jean-Pascal Hohm, a politician from the state of Brandenburg, where the state-level domestic intelligence agency has listed him as "confirmed right-wing extremist." The previous AfD youth wing was dissolved following a party conference decision in the spring, after it was listed as extremist by the federal intelligence agency.
On Tuesday, the interior minister of the state of Hesse expressed concern at the events scheduled for the weekend, with particular reference to calls for violence from the left.