Activists have taken to the streets of Erfurt for a rally against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Protesters are gathering outside the Landtag of Thuringia in Erfurt as the state's parliament begins to vote for a new minister president.
Thomas Kemmerich of the liberal Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) became minister president of Thuringia on 5 February after the AfD disregarded its own candidate in order to help him defeat Bodo Ramelow, a politician with the democratic socialist Die Linke party, which came first in the regional poll last autumn. Kemmerich stepped down and vowed to seek new state elections later in February after Merkel slammed the vote in the regional legislature as "unforgivable".
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