A meeting set to launch the new youth wing of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was delayed Saturday as thousands of protestors blocked access to the event venue.<\/p>\n
Thousands of anti-AfD protestors began descending on the town of Giessen from early morning, with police also out in force.<\/p>\n
One of the protest organisations, \u201cResist\u201d, said that it blocked several routes towards the AfD meeting and had gathered 15,000 people.<\/p>\n
The AfD\u2019s meeting was expected to start at 10 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) but had not started as of 11:30. Proceedings had not yet started \u201cdue to the protests,\u201d party spokesman Michael Pfalzgraf told AFP.<\/p>\n
When the meeting does start, attendees are expected to choose the new youth wing\u2019s leaders, statutes, name, and logo.<\/p>\n
The anti-immigration AfD became Germany\u2019s main opposition at February\u2019s general election in which it won a record score of over 20 percent and hopes to make further gains at state elections next year in its eastern heartlands.<\/p>\n
The new youth organisation will replace the Junge Alternative (JA), which was classified as an extremist group by intelligence services and then disbanded by the AfD earlier this year, pre-empting a possible ban.<\/p>\n
The JA had frequently been involved in controversies, including its members using racist chants and holding meetings with neo-Nazis.<\/p>\n
Something has to change<\/p>\n
The new AfD youth wing is expected to be called \u201cGeneration Deutschland\u201d or \u201cYouth Germania,\u201d and members will decide whether to adopt a suggested logo bearing an eagle, a cross, and Germany\u2019s national colours black, red, and gold.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s likely the first leader will be Jean-Pascal Hohm, 28, an AfD state lawmaker from eastern Germany with long-standing ties to various far-right and ethno-nationalist groups.<\/p>\n
Inside the hall, stalls were set up offering the delegates \u2014 overwhelmingly men \u2014 merchandise including protein powder, mugs, and T-shirts bearing images of AfD leaders.<\/p>\n
Kevin Potthast, a 34-year-old electrician active in local AfD politics, said he came to the meeting because \u201cthe country is in a bad way and something has to change\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to get young people involved, as they are the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One of the counter-protestors in the streets outside, 28-year-old Irina Gildt, told AFP that she felt it was important to demonstrate in favour of diversity and not to be intimidated \u201cby fear or by hatred\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s worth getting up early for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Far-right milieu<\/p>\n
In May, Germany\u2019s domestic security service declared the AfD as a whole a \u201cright-wing extremist\u201d organisation, fuelling calls to ban it.<\/p>\n
The party has challenged the designation in the courts.<\/p>\n
Political observers expect the new youth wing to be at least as radical as the JA.<\/p>\n
Fabian Virchow, of the University of Duesseldorf, said that \u201cthe leading figures come from a far-right milieu, in which former activists from the Identitarian Movement, fraternities, neo-Nazism and ethno-nationalist groups come together\u201d.<\/p>\n
While the JA operated as a registered association relatively free of the parent party, its successor is set to be more closely integrated into the AfD and subject to its disciplinary structures.<\/p>\n
Stefan Marschall, of Heinrich Heine University in D\u00fcsseldorf, said the new set-up \u201cgives the party leadership control over this branch of the organisation and thus helps it to present a more unified front.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, this comes at the cost of the party no longer being able to completely credibly distance itself from the youth organisation should it adopt problematic positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The youth wing is expected to assert its independence from day one.<\/p>\n
One motion to be voted on states, \u201cthe new youth organisation should neither blindly follow the parent party nor serve as a lapdog for the federal or state executive committees of the parent party.\u201d<\/p>\n
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