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The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) established 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, is to 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 founding.
Some 10 officers also suffered minor injuries, the police said.
New group linked more closely to party
The Junge Alternative (JA) disbanded 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, excluding the executive committee, did not have to be members of the party and acted largely independently.
That gave the AfD little influence over the JA. As an association, the JA, which was classified as a proven far-right extremist group by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, also ran the risk of being banned.
Now only those who are already members of the AfD can join the new AfD youth organisation. Violations of the rules or misconduct can 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 was primarily intended to produce capable young talent for the parent party, also with a view 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 would need to be filled.
“So this is a training ground for government responsibility,’ said Weidel.
Group delegates demand remigrations
As delegates elected the executive committee of the new party youth organization, candidates struck staunchly far-right tones.
Kevin Dorow, a young AfD politician from Schleswig-Holstein elected to the GD leadership 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,” said Dorow. “This youth organisation, dear friends, will be the spearhead of the young right in Germany.”
“Youth is led by youth” was the principle of the Bündische Jugend (German Youth Movement) in the Weimar period and later of the Hitler Youth.
Mio Trautner, of Baden-Württemberg, demanded “that deportations in the state finally begin, that the runways in Germany glow.” Candidate Julia Gehrkens, who was also elected to the GD executive committee, who said, “Only millions of remigrations will protect our women and children!” to powerful applause.
New board member Cedric Krippner was also loudly applauded when he called for “millions of remigrations.” “We must deport, deport, deport, until Germany becomes our home again,” said Helmut Strauf, also a member of the GD board.
Protests delay arrivals at outset
The event began with a 2-hour delay as the road blockades and protests prevented many of the roughly 1,000 planned attendees from reaching the venue.
AfD leaders Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, and the designated head of the new youth group, Jean-Pascal Hohm, were also delayed, leaving numerous seats in the exhibition hall empty at the start of the assembly. They sharply criticized the blockades.
Weidel said AfD lawmaker 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 hall and suffered bruises and red marks on his nose and cheekbone as a result. He called the incident a new level of confrontation.
The police said that an AfD lawmaker had been injured nearby and that the suspected perpetrator had been arrested, and the investigation was ongoing. The police did not provide any further details or the name of the person involved.
Most of the protests were peaceful, police said, with numbers reaching more than 25,000 people took to the city streets. The alliance Widersetzen, meaning Resist said there had been more than 50,000 participants.
“The police do not have any reliable figures regarding injured participants in the gathering,” the police said.
Police and demonstrators face each other at the slip road from the L3047 onto the B429. The slip road is blocked. Several thousand demonstrators protested against the founding of a new AfD youth organization on Saturday. Its predecessor, Junge Alternative, which had been classified as right-wing extremist, had dissolved itself. Lando Hass/dpa
Participants from various organizations protest in Giessen against the founding meeting of the new AfD youth organization. The demonstration is accompanied by a massive police presence. Boris Roessler/dpa
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