Tens of thousands demonstrate against AfD’s creation of new youth group

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party, created a new youth organization called Generation Deutschland (GD) on Saturday at a founding congress accompanied by massive protests.

More than 800 participants adopted a youth statute with rules on the role and work of the new organization which, unlike its predecessor Junge Alternative, must be closely linked to the AfD.

Several people with minor injuries were treated at the city’s university hospital as protests raged against the group’s creation.

Around ten police officers were also slightly injured, police said.

A new group more closely linked to the party

The Junge Alternative (JA) party dissolved in the spring after the AfD severed ties with it. As an independent association, the JA was only loosely affiliated with the AfD and its members, with the exception of the executive committee, were not required to be party members and acted largely independently.

This gave the AfD little influence over the JA. As an association, the JA, classified as a proven far-right group by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, also risked being banned.

Now only those who are already members of the AfD can join the new AfD youth organization. Violations of the rules or mistakes may be punished, up to and including expulsion from the party. The organization is to be open to all AfD members under the age of 36, in what AfD leader Alice Weidel called a training ground for the party.

She said GD’s main goal was to train competent young talents for the parent party, also in the run-up to next year’s state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where polls suggest the party could come to power for the first time, meaning many positions are expected to be filled.

“So it’s a training ground for government accountability,” Weidel said.

Group delegates demand remigration

As delegates elected the executive committee of the party’s new youth organization, candidates struck a decidedly far-right tone.

Kevin Dorow, a young AfD politician from Schleswig-Holstein elected to the GD executive committee, called on members not to distance themselves from the periphery.

“Youth must be led by youth, and this principle must be our guiding star,” Dorow said. “This youth organization, dear friends, will be the spearhead of right-wing youth in Germany.”

“Youth is led by youth” was the principle of the Bündische Jugend (German Youth Movement) during the Weimar era and later of the Hitler Youth.

Mio Trautner from Baden-Württemberg demanded “that the evictions finally begin in the state, that the landing strips in Germany shine”. Candidate Julia Gehrkens, also elected to the GD executive committee, said: “Only millions of remigrations will protect our women and children! to loud applause.

New board member Cedric Krippner also received loud applause when he called for “millions of remigrations.” “We must expel, expel, expel, until Germany becomes our country again,” said Helmut Strauf, also a GD board member.

Protests delay arrivals from the start

The event started 2 hours late, as roadblocks and protests prevented many of the approximately 1,000 planned participants from reaching the venue.

AfD leaders Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, as well as the designated leader of the new youth group, Jean-Pascal Hohm, were also delayed, leaving many empty seats in the exhibition hall at the start of the assembly. They strongly criticized the blockades.

Weidel said AfD MP Julian Schmidt was “beaten up” on the sidelines of the protests. He confirmed the attack to DPA, saying he was attacked by around 20 people after parking his car near the lobby and suffered bruises and red marks on his nose and cheekbones. He called the incident a new level of confrontation.

Police said an AfD lawmaker was injured nearby and the suspected perpetrator was arrested and the investigation was ongoing. Police did not provide any further details or the name of the person involved.

Most protests were peaceful, police said, and more than 25,000 people took to the city’s streets. The Widersetzen, or Resist, alliance said there were more than 50,000 participants.

“The police do not have any reliable figures regarding injured participants in the rally,” police said.