Germany’s Alternative for Germany party (AfD) was set to adopt a party manifesto yesterday, calling for sharp restrictions on immigration and the practice of Islam, after German riot police on Saturday briefly detained about 500 protesters as clashes erupted outside a meeting of the party.
Formed only three years ago on a euroskeptic platform, the party has gained strength as the loudest protest voice against German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcome to refugees that brought more than 1 million asylum seekers last year.
With the refugee influx sharply down in recent months, the AfD has shifted focus to the signature issue of the PEGIDA movement, whose full name is Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident.
Photo: EPA
AfD leaders have said that “Islam is not part of Germany” and on the second day of the party’s congress on Sunday were also expected to demand bans on Muslim symbols in Germany such as minarets on mosques, the call to prayer and full-face veils for women.
“We must not repeat the mistakes of the ’60s and ’70s and look abroad for labor migration,” reads a line from the party platform taking shape at the meeting in the western city of Stuttgart.
On Saturday hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the convention center, with some burning tires and hurling firecrackers.
Heavily armoured riot police used tear gas to hold off the protesters, many of whom were dressed in black and wore face masks.
“No rights for Nazi propaganda,” shouted one group of protesters, who threw firecrackers at journalists and more than 1,000 riot police deployed.
The clashes delayed the opening of the congress by more than an hour.
Stuttgart police said on Twitter that the more than 500 people taken into custody were later released “in small groups.”
Three officers were lightly wounded in the hours-long scuffles, but there were no reports of injuries among the demonstrators, it added in a statement.
In another act of harassment, a media site published the names, addresses and telephone numbers of about 2,000 party members.
AfD coleader Joerg Meuthen pledged to file criminal charges against the unknown hackers behind the data leak.
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