The party's convention was met with protests in the streets of Riesa, in defiance of the party's convention, according to Reuters. the protests and blockades resulted in the convention starting late as police clashed with protesters. At the convention, the AfD party formally nominated Alice Weidel as their candidate for chancellor.
According to Politico, police estimated that there will be some 10,000 protesters in the area over the weekend. The demonstrators chanted "no to Nazi" as they blocked many of the 600 party delegates from reaching the venue on time.
Those in the AfD have been accused of being akin to Nazis as the party has sought to end mass migration. Police removed the protesters from the street as the delegates attempted to reach the venue.
A snap election in Germany is scheduled for February 23 and the AfD and the other major German parties are preparing ahead of the election. The AfD is currently in second place in polling. This week, Weidel also had the endorsement of tech billionaire Elon Musk, who hosted an X livestream with the AfD chancellor candidate.
Olaf Scholz, the incumbent center-left chancellor, is hoping for victory in the snap election but is leading a minority government after his three-party coalition went to shambles in November. The incumbent said on Saturday, “Maybe I should also have ended the coalition earlier."
