Party summit expected to draw 80,000 demonstrators as German police are stretched by Euro 2024

Clashes between hooded demonstrators and police marked the start of a party congress of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), weeks after it scored record EU election results despite multiple scandals.

About 1,000 police were deployed in the western city of Essen as about 600 delegates began a two-day meeting, with authorities expecting up to 80,000 people to join demonstrations.

Far-right party’s poll numbers have fallen but analysts say negative headlines unlikely to sway its supporters

Scandals buffeting Germany’s far-right AfD are unlikely to do enough damage to blow the party off course before pivotal elections this year, analysts say, but the votes will offer crucial insights into whether the centre can hold against an anti-democratic onslaught.

Embarrassing allegations of spying for China and collusion with Russia, after the bombshell revelation in January of a mass “remigration masterplan” for foreigners and German nationals alike backed by several party members, have sent the AfD’s poll numbers plunging to as low as 15% nationwide. That is its worst score since April 2023.

Prosecutors claim influential AfD leader Björn Höcke used Nazi slogan ‘Everything for Germany!’ in speech

One of the most prominent figures in the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has arrived in court for his trial on charges of using a Nazi slogan, months before a regional election in which he is running to become his state’s governor.

Björn Höcke, 52, is the leader of the regional branch of the AfD in the eastern state of Thuringia and a powerful figure on the party’s hard right.

While never formally a national leader of AfD, the former history teacher has been influential as the 11-year-old party has steadily headed further right and ousted several comparatively moderate leaders.

At the trial at the state court in Halle, Höcke is charged with using symbols of unconstitutional organisations. He is accused of ending a speech in nearby Merseburg in May 2021 with the words: “Everything for Germany!”

Prosecutors contend he was aware of the origin of the phrase as a slogan of the Nazis’ SA stormtroopers. Using symbols of unconstitutional organisations can carry a fine or a prison sentence of up to three years.

Höcke insisted in a debate with a conservative rival last week that he was unaware it was a Nazi slogan and claimed many others had used it. “Everyone out there knows it’s an everyday saying,” he said.

Martin Sellner, leader of ethno-nationalist Identitarian Movement, had addressed controversial event in Potsdam in November

A far-right Austrian nationalist has been banned from entering Germany after addressing a meeting about mass deportations that provoked mass protests across the country.

Days after he was deported from Switzerland, Martin Sellner, a leader of Austria’s ethno-nationalist Identitarian Movement, posted a video of himself on X reading out a letter to his lawyer that he said was from authorities in the city of Potsdam.

Exclusive: Time is ripe for challenge to growing far-right support, says former Bundestag president

A former president of the German Bundestag has urged the country’s political leaders to seize on the momentum of recent nationwide demonstrations against far-right populism to build “an alliance of democrats”, comparing the outpouring of anger to the protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Wolfgang Thierse, a veteran social democrat considered by many to be a moral authority in contemporary Germany, said he was shocked by the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has struggled to distance itself from revelations that party members attended a meeting at which plans for the mass deportation of foreigners were discussed.