Koblenz summit Europe’s right-wing populists applaud Trump
KOBLENZ · 5000 people protested against a right-wing populist summit in Koblenz attended by Marine Le Pen, Frauke Petry and Geert Wilders on Saturday.
Europe’s right-wing populists see themselves as on the rise after US President Trump’s inauguration. On Saturday in Koblenz they set out their own claim to power at an inaugural meeting in this year of European elections.
However, they were also exposed to stronger than expected protests with around 5000 demonstrators taking to the streets to protest against the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), the French Front National, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the Dutch Party for Freedom headed by Geert Wilders. There are elections this spring in the Netherlands and France and this autumn in Germany.
The AfD leader, Frauke Petry, told around 1000 participants that Trump had shown the way out of a dead-end street and “we want to do exactly the same for Europe.” The head of the right-wing extremist Front National party, Marine Le Pen, said some of the points made by Trump in his first speech as president were similar to, “what we are saying.” The Dutch ring-wing populist Geert Wilders spoke of a “patriotic spring” in Europe. It was Petry’s and Le Pen’s first joint appearance in Germany.
(Original text: dpa. Translated by Kate Carey.)
