Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the western German city of Giessen on Saturday as the far-right Alternative for Germany’s new youth organisation was set to kick off its founding convention.
Groups of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the city of some 93,000 people in the early morning. Police said they used pepper spray after stones were thrown at officers at one location.
The new youth organisation of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is to be set up in a meeting at Giessen’s convention centre.
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Its predecessor, the Young Alternative, a largely autonomous group with relatively loose links to the party, was dissolved at the end of March after AfD decided to formally cut ties with it.
AfD wants to have closer oversight over the new group, expected to be called Generation Germany. The party finished second in the country’s national election in February with over 20 per cent of the vote and is now the country’s biggest opposition party.
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