AfD's Historic Election Victory Triggers Far-left Extremists, Riots

The right-wing Alternative for Germany or AfD party , known for its anti-illegal immigration stance, won 32.8% of the vote in Thuringia in regional elections Sunday, making it the first so-called far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II. In Saxony, it secured 41% of the vote, coming second to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The historic victory triggered far-left extremists who took to the streets in several cities, including Hamburg, Dresden, and Leipzig, and clashed with police.

“For us, it’s a historic success,” said Alice Weidel, one of the AfD’s national leaders.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government coalition parties -- his center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the fiscally conservative Free Democratic Party (FDP) -- took significant losses in Sunday's elections. In Thuringia, for example, the Greens and the FDP appear to have both crashed out of the state parliament after failing to meet the five-percent threshold necessary to gain seats.

Far-left protesters, including members of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the Left Party, took to the streets in several cities to express their outrage against AfD’s victory. It quickly turned violent in, with police reporting instances of property damage, vandalism, and clashes with rioters.

“The AfD’s victory is a wake-up call for Germany," BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht said. "We must address the root causes of discontent and work towards a more inclusive society.”

Scholz has vowed to exclude the AfD from power. The CDU has also refused to cooperate with the victorious right-wing party. The government and opposition parties are likely to engage in intense negotiations to form a new coalition government, excluding AfD.

The riots and vitriolic reactions to AfD's victory have sparked sparked concerns about the normalization of left-wing extremism and rejection of democratic elections that don't go the far-left's way.

Far-left political violence could lead Germany to further polarization, critics say, especially when the left-wing government appears to have failed in addressing the problems faced by the German people, but instead wasting taxpayers' money in helping to prolong the Ukraine-Russia war.