Members of the far-right (AfD) reelected and to another two-year term as joint party leaders on Saturday.
Chrupalla said he was “a bit overwhelmed” after receiving 82.72% support from members at the party conference in the western German city of Essen. Weidel received 79.77% of the vote
Both leaders saw an increase in support compared with the party’s largest congress two years ago. The pair were unopposed in the vote by around 600 delegates gathered at an indoor arena.
In her opening speech to the conference ahead of the vote, Weidel attacked the governing coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Dear government, finally get out of here and clear the way for new elections,” she said, before adding that firewalls against the AfD were not necessary.
Weidel was referring to the refusal by Germany’s mainstream parties to work with the far-right party.
Chrupalla, meanwhile, said the AfD was “stronger than ever” after the two leaders had “brought peace” to the once-divided party.
Protesters and police clash outside AfD congress
Earlier Saturday, police used pepper spray and batons to stop a large group of protesters breaking through a cordon, near where a two-day congress was being held.
It was not immediately clear if demonstrators were injured in the incident, which occurred at around 5:45 am (0345 GMT), but police said they made several arrests and some officers were attacked.
At one stage, a few hundred protesters blocked the exit ramp of a motorway and others occupied streets and intersections near the site where the congress is being held in a bid to prevent delegates from reaching the venue.
Authorities appealed to demonstrators to “keep away from violent actions and troublemakers.”
High security presence
Several thousand police officers were deployed as part of security measures to prevent civil disorder.
In all, some 100,000 protesters were expected to take part in the demos against the anti-immigration, archconservative AfD, which has been gaining support, particularly in the country’s former communist east.
Although organizers said the protests would be peaceful, police feared violence from some 1,000 leftist extremists who also planned to demonstrate.
Some 5,000 protesters already took part in a rally with music on Friday evening that had the motto “Bass gegen Hass” (Eng.: “Bass against hate”).
Essen authorities had tried for months to prevent the AfD from holding the two-day party conference there but ultimately failed in court.
Spy agency monitoring AfD activities
The AfD is being monitored by the German domestic intelligence agency (BfV) as a suspected right-wing extremist organization. The agency has warned that the party poses a racist, antisemitic and anti-democratic threat to Germany.
Despite such warnings and a the party came second in in the European Parliament elections on June 9 and even took first place in the five former communist eastern states.
It is also expected to become the strongest party in September elections in three of those eastern states — Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg — amid fears that other parties will not be able to form a governing coalition to outnumber it.
The AfD is also looking to seize on its rising popularity as Germany prepares for federal elections in the fall of 2025.
mm, tj/kb (AFP, dpa)
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