AfD launches manifesto as campaign season for German election begins
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Polling for the far-right insurgent and its extreme policies is rising but other parties have closed ranks against it despite their weak popularity. Germany’s far-right AfD party has signed off on its manifesto before next month’s critical election, proposing a series of deeply controversial policies on everything from migration to education as the campaign for a new government in Europe’s powerhouse formally kicked off.
![[Kate Connolly]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/06/04/Kate_Connolly,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The party, founded in 2013, endorsed the far-right concept of “re-migration” into its programme, threatening the mass deportation of migrants if they came into power. The phrase, long since used in far-right, so-called identitarian circles, gained in notoriety after it was the focus of a secret meeting between right-wing extremists, neo-Nazis and AfD officials in November 2023, which sparked widespread protests across the country when it came to light.
![[A protest against the AfD conference]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b2085f2e1ca3c18fa1a5f23e82cfda5e47f85ec9/0_236_3543_2126/master/3543.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Alternative für Deutschland’s two-day convention in the eastern city of Riesa was held up by mass protests and blockades by over 10,000 demonstrators, which considerably delayed its start. A heavy police presence held back demonstrators and guarded delegates as they entered the meeting. A left-wing politician said he had been hit in the face and knocked to the ground by police. Police said they were examining a video of the incident.
