Mass protests expected as Germany's far-right AfD to found youth wing

Around 50,000 protesters are expected in a small German town this weekend as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) convenes to found a new youth wing.

Giessen Mayor Frank-Tilo Becher on Thursday called on demonstrators to remain peaceful, warning that "the limits of the acceptable are exceeded when calls are made for violence or force is used."

Becher said the university town, which dates back to the end of the 12th century, was tense ahead of the weekend, with huge numbers of participants expected to join around 30 protests. Giessen has a population of around 90,000, more than a third of them students.

The mayor said he was concerned that confidence in democracy was regularly under question. The question was whether Germans wanted to live "in an open, diverse and free society, or in a closed-off country in which many of us are no longer welcome and many things would no longer be allowed."

The AfD is planning to establish a new countrywide youth organization called "Generation Germany."

The group is to be headed by Jean-Pascal Hohm, a politician from the state of Brandenburg, where the state-level domestic intelligence agency has listed him as "confirmed right-wing extremist."

The previous AfD youth wing was dissolved following a party conference decision in the spring, after it was listed as extremist by the federal intelligence agency.

On Tuesday, the interior minister of the state of Hesse expressed concern at the events scheduled for the weekend, with particular reference to calls for violence from the left.