Sawt Falasteen - Joy, dark fears as far-right AfD wins east German vote

To them, the hero of the hour was Bjoern Hoecke, the former history teacher running in the state of Thuringia who delivered the Alternative for Germany (AfD)'s biggest victory to date.

"He absolutely had to win," said party faithful Patrick Teichmann, 32, his eyes sparkling with joy at the rise of the party which has vowed to deport illegal immigrants.

Wearing a T-shirt carrying Hoecke's signature, he described the 52-year-old state party leader as "the only politician who has any sense these days".

The vote count was ongoing late Sunday, but the AfD looked to have won its first regional election victory with around 33 percent, delivering a blow to the government of centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

In the Thuringian state capital Erfurt, Teichmann, a vegetable grower, was savouring the moment with friends.

They were on a street halfway between the AfD's closed-door election party in a traditional restaurant and an anti-fascist demonstration held under heavy police watch.

When the first results were announced, Hoecke, a slim man with piercing blue eyes, had briefly appeared before the media with his arms raised, hailing "a historic victory".

Teichmann was certain that bigger things lie ahead for Hoecke, who hails from western Germany, voicing hope that "he can still save" Thuringia and then the rest of the country.

- Counter-protest -

Many German observers are deeply worried about the decade-old rise of the AfD party from a eurosceptic fringe group to a nationalist, anti-immigration movement.

After the first exit polls were announced, several hundred young demonstrators gathered near the state parliament, most of them from the anti-fascist movement and dressed in black.

Rally organisers cautioned them about laws that ban fully covering one's face with scarves or ski masks, while around 50 police officers kept a watchful eye.

Slogans on placards demanded a ban on the AfD and support for refugees.

Public debate has flared for years in Germany about large numbers of asylum-seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the mood at times inflamed by violent crimes.

About a week before the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, Germany was shocked by a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen where a 26-year-old Syrian man with suspected links to the Islamic State group is alleged to have killed three people.

Another AfD supporter in Erfurt, a 54-year-old wholesale retailer who only gave his name as Joerg, demanded "sweeping changes ... that will be possible only with the AfD", including more deportations of immigrants who have committed crimes.

The expulsion of foreigners from Germany through a "remigration" programme has been a pillar of Hoecke's election campaign.

- 'Very divided' -

Teichmann, voicing a common AfD claim, charged that most foreign migrants in Germany "pretend to be refugees to take advantage of the German social security system".

The group of anti-AfD demonstrators meanwhile crossed the city as night fell, passing through middle-class suburbs and past drab communist-era housing blocks.

Some said they were dejected at the AfD's historic win in their rural state, which echoed strong gains in neighbouring Saxony and rattled the political establishment.

"I didn't expect such a result," said one activist who only gave his name as Jonas, a 30-year-old physiotherapist. "I was hoping that the demonstrations of the past few days would have changed things a little."

On their way, the anti-fascist protesters received applause from some passers-by and angry shouts and a thumbs-down from others.

One 83-year-old woman called Kaethe, a member of the group Omas Gegen Rechts (Grannies Against the Right), voiced a sense of foreboding about the AfD's triumphant day.

Evoking the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, she warned that "history has already taught us what this victory of the AfD could mean, almost 100 years ago".

"The population is very divided," she said. "We are no longer able to raise awareness among the people as much as before."

I.Yassin--SF-PST