Organizers: Over 50,000 people take part in large demonstration against AfD
Approximately 70,000 people were demonstrating against the AfD national party conference in Essen, according to Widersetzen. On Friday evening, around 10,000 people had already demonstrated, and around 7,000 in the early morning on Saturday. Thousands more demonstrators were expected to join a rally before the Grugahalle at 2:30 pm.
"More people are demonstrating loudly against the AfD at the weekend than the party has members," explained Linda Kastrup, spokesperson for Gemeinsam Laut. "The AfD is quite clear that they are not welcome here. Together, we stand for an open and democratic society."
The AfD party conference began with a half-hour delay at 10:30 am. According to a count by the party on site, 555 of the 600 delegates were present by around 11:30 am.
AfD party chair Alice Weidel criticized: "What is happening in front of this hall has nothing to do with political will-formation. Woke left-wing groups, supported by the CDU, are trying with all their might to intimidate political opinion-making." The AfD state chairman in North Rhine-Westphalia, Martin Vincentz, said: "We can only hold a party conference under thousands of police officers. That is a right that is being denied to us."
- The organizer of the Large-scale demonstration against the AfD party conference estimated that around 50,000 people were participating over the weekend.
- Despite the large turnout at the demonstration, only 555 out of 600 delegates attended the AfD Federal Party Conference, which started with a half-hour delay.
- AfD party chair Alice Weidel criticized the protests, stating that the demonstrations outside the conference hall were not about political will-formation, but rather an attempt by woke left-wing groups and the CDU to intimidate political opinion-making.
- The AfD state chairman in North Rhine-Westphalia, Martin Vincentz, expressed his disappointment at the need for thousands of police officers to secure the AfD party conference, considering it a violation of their right to hold such an event.
