{"id":65288,"date":"2026-08-01T10:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T10:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/65288\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T10:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T10:01:34","slug":"inside-the-anti-afd-blockades-unicorn-riot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/65288\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Anti-AfD Blockades – UNICORN RIOT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erfurt, Germany \u2014 On July 3 and 4, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) held its annual federal party convention in Erfurt, the capital of the eastern German state of Thuringia. The AfD has become Germany\u2019s second-largest political party and is seeking to take power in several state governments. Tens of thousands of people traveled from across Germany to protest the party congress. The civil disobedience alliance Widersetzen<\/a> (Defy) organized hundreds of buses carrying protesters intending to take part in mass blockades.<\/p>\n

By around 5 a.m. on July 3, the first buses had reached Erfurt, with protesters attempting to establish blockades at multiple locations throughout the city. Unicorn Riot accompanied one of the buses traveling from Berlin. After disembarking near an interstate highway outside Erfurt, activists managed to push through a police line, gathered on the highway, and staged a sit-in to strategically block one of the main access routes to the AfD congress.<\/p>\n

Emma from Widersetzen, who was present at the blockade, described how activists reached one of the main access roads before sunrise. \u201cThey got off the bus just before five in the morning and were almost immediately at the blockade point,\u201d she said. \u201cThe sun was just coming up, and they sat down to block one of the main roads leading to the AfD congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Large banner at AfD blockade on June 3 reading \u201cStop Right-Wing Activities. Antifascist Action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roughly 3,000 protesters succeeded in occupying the highway, establishing at least three separate blockade points. By 7 a.m., Widersetzen reported that thousands of demonstrators had gathered at more than 14 blockade sites on roads leading into the city as well as within Erfurt itself. According to the alliance, approximately 17,000 people participated in the blockades.<\/p>\n

\"\"Banner reading \u201cBianca, the fight is on! The Antifa thanks you\u201d is held by anti-AfD blockaders on July 3, 2026 in Germany.<\/p>\n

At the same time, additional demonstrations took place across the city, including marches organized by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and the civil society coalition Zusammenstehen (Standing Together).<\/p>\n

Although the blockades were strategically coordinated across Erfurt and its surrounding access roads, it quickly became apparent that the AfD would be able to hold its congress largely uninterrupted. Unlike previous party congresses, many delegates had arrived much earlier than expected. Some were escorted by police to the Erfurt exhibition center, the venue for the congress as early as 3 a.m., while others had stayed overnight in hotels near the convention grounds.<\/p>\n

As a result, the blockades proved less effective than organizers had hoped. Only a relatively small number of delegates encountered difficulties reaching the venue.<\/p>\n

One of the spokespersons of Widersetzen, Noa Sander, noted during the day that, \u201cthe AfD had to arrive during the night and desperately barricade itself inside the convention center hotel just to be able to meet at all. That is their defeat: they are crawling into a half-empty hall like the criminals they are. We are standing tall: today, Erfurt is the antifascist capital!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Activists participate in civil disobedience, blocking roads to an AfD convention in Erfurt, Germany on July 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Emma also described the mobilization itself as a success. \u201cThousands of people traveled across Germany and reached most of the planned blockade points,\u201d she said. \u201cBut this isn\u2019t only about today. It\u2019s about building the relationships activists will need tomorrow \u2014 when a neighbor faces deportation, when a co-worker loses their job, or when someone is targeted by the far-right.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to organizers, more than 50,000 people participated in protests throughout Erfurt over the weekend. The demonstrations and blockades formed part of a broader wave of mass mobilizations against the AfD, following major protests against the party\u2019s congress in Riesa and similar actions at previous AfD conventions.<\/p>\n

\"\"Police use pepper spray and batons in attempts to violently disrupt one of many anti-AfD blockades in Erfurt, Germany on July 3, 2026. <\/p>\n

Direct actions, like a local AfD-office having paint thrown on its walls or an attack on a far-right clothing shop, also occurred during the protests. People reporting for right-wing publications Apollo News and the newspaper Junge Freiheit (Young Freedom) were also directly targeted, drawing criticism by mainstream media as an attack on journalism itself, leading<\/a> to a general debate on violence against journalists.<\/p>\n

This comes as the number of far-right streamers appearing on the sidelines of anti-fascist protests has increased. Apollo News is among the outlets who have a history of negatively portraying anti-fascist activists and promoting homophobic and other defamatory attacks on them.<\/p>\n

\"\"Activists block roads to a far-right convention in Erfurt, Germany on July 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Over the past several years, Widersetzen has evolved into a nationwide network advocating civil disobedience, with mass blockades serving as its primary tactic. The alliance brings together a broad coalition of anti-fascist organizations, student groups, civil society initiatives, trade unions, and left-wing political parties.<\/p>\n

Today, Widersetzen has local chapters in numerous German cities and works closely with student anti-fascist initiatives. Through an extensive social media presence \u2014 particularly on Instagram<\/a> \u2014 the alliance has built a nationwide mobilization network while drawing inspiration from earlier civil disobedience campaigns in Germany.<\/p>\n

Widersetzen sees itself as part of a long tradition of anti-fascist civil disobedience in Germany. Its political lineage includes the mass blockades that successfully challenged annual neo-Nazi marches in Dresden as well as decades of protests against nuclear waste transports to Gorleben in the Wendland region, where civil disobedience in form of mass-blockades became a defining aspect of political resistance. Widersetzen\u2019s main organizing focus is the rapid rise of the AfD.<\/p>\n

For Elena, a spokesperson for the anti-fascist coalition Zeit zu Handeln (Time to Act), the demonstrations in Erfurt were about more than disrupting a single party congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe anti-fascism has to come from below,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we organize ourselves because nobody is going to hand it to us, and we can\u2019t rely on the state. The experiences we gain here are ones we\u2019ll need back home in the fight against local far-right structures.\u201d Elena described the AfD as \u201cthe spearhead of Germany\u2019s shift to the right\u201d and argued that broad grassroots organizing is necessary to counter its growing influence.<\/p>\n

\"\"Activists chant \u201cWe are all antifascists\u201d during an anti-AfD blockade in Erfurt, Germany on July 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

The Rise of AfD<\/p>\n

Founded in 2013 as a Eurosceptic party during the end of the European sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the AfD increasingly shifted its focus toward immigration and national identity following the arrival of large numbers of refugees in 2015. <\/p>\n

Then German Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s decision to allow many asylum seekers, particularly those fleeing the war in Syria, to enter Germany, accompanied by her famous phrase, \u201cWe can do this,\u201d became a defining political issue<\/a> for the AfD.\u201cRemigration\u201d is an explicit part of AfD\u2019s federal program of 2025<\/a>. The program calls for; deporting people legally required to leave, withdrawing temporary protection when the original grounds no longer apply, encouraging \u201cvoluntary return,\u201d and making it easier to expel foreign offenders.<\/p>\n

The investigative outlet Correctiv uncovered<\/a> a secret meeting in November 2023 in Potsdam where AfD-politicians met with leading far-right activists, including Martin Sellner, the most prominent figure of the far-right Identitarian Movement, to discuss remigration. Widersetzen<\/a> emerged from the protests against this scandal.<\/p>\n

The party has become especially strong in eastern Germany. In Thuringia, its local state organization is led by Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke, one of the party\u2019s most prominent figures associated with its far-right wing. H\u00f6cke, a former teacher, has repeatedly been convicted for using Nazi-associated slogans, and Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence service has identified him as one of the central figures of the party\u2019s far-right faction.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the AfD has also begun consistently winning double-digit vote shares across much of western Germany. Now AfD is projected in polls<\/a> to be by far the strongest party in Germany.<\/p>\n

AfD has been legally monitored since 2021 as a suspected extremist organization by Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence service. This classification was challenged by the AfD and its appeal was dismissed on all court levels \u2013 in 2025, Germany\u2019s Federal Administrative Court made the final rejection. The domestic intelligence service subsequently upgraded the AfD to \u201cconfirmed right-wing extremist,\u201d but a court decision temporarily blocked that higher designation in February 2026 pending the main proceedings. The ruling did not overturn<\/a> the suspected-case classification.<\/p>\n

AfD\u2019s youth organization was classified in 2024 as extremist and was dissolved by the AfD itself in order to found a new organization at the end of 2025 under the name \u201cGeneration Germany.\u201d Against its founding congress in Gie\u00dfen tens of thousand people protested and many thousands participated at the blockades of Widersetzen.<\/p>\n

Critics contend that the party has shifted Germany\u2019s political debate significantly to the right, with governing and mainstream parties \u2014 mainly the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) \u2014 adopting increasingly restrictive positions on immigration. These include tighter asylum laws, expanded deportation powers, and funding cuts affecting culture and civil society organizations.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of the anti-fascist movement, Germany\u2019s political center has increasingly embraced policies that were once associated primarily with the AfD. In a press release<\/a>, Widersetzen\u2019s Noa Sander strongly criticized the governing parties at both state and federal level:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say our blockades failed. The truth is that the governing parties are failing in the fight against the far-right. Instead, they are adopting the AfD\u2019s demands and dismantling the welfare state while far-right violence reaches record levels. Anyone who does that should simply keep their mouth shut about the right strategy for fighting fascism.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the so-called \u201cfirewall\u201d \u2014 the commitment by Germany\u2019s democratic parties not to cooperate with the AfD \u2014 is coming under increasing pressure. In several eastern German states, opinion polls now place the AfD in first place. If the party continues to gain support, it could eventually become capable of governing without coalition partners in some states and even win the federal elections in 2029.<\/p>\n

Particular attention is therefore focused on the state elections scheduled for September in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In Saxony-Anhalt especially, many political observers believe the AfD could achieve a historic result<\/a>, potentially placing it in a position to lead a state government or play a decisive role in forming one for the first time. Widersetzen is already mobilizing for a conference in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, on July 25 to plan actions around the state elections together with its alliance partners.<\/p>\n

\"\"Large numbers of German police were in Erfurt, Germany on July 3, 2026, to push out activists who were attempting to blockade the political convention of the far-right party AfD. <\/p>\n

Cover image (and embedded images) are from screengrabs of video<\/a> contributed by John Malamatinas.<\/p>\n

More Unicorn Riot coverage from Germany in our archives<\/a>. <\/p>\n

More UR coverage of far-right investigations<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n


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