Overview

• Police removed 30 disruptive attendees and issued orders to leave after chants, sirens and whistles delayed the start inside the Hermann‑Hepper‑Halle.
• Outside the venue, police counted more than 1,000 protesters at first and later reported a peak of roughly 2,000, with scuffles but no serious injuries.
• The forum, negotiated in July in exchange for canceling an AfD city-center rally, followed strict security rules and featured six topic blocks moderated by rhetoric professor Joachim Knape.
• Exchanges focused on crime statistics, climate and migration, with Palmer citing declining serious crime, Frohnmaier defending his party line and declining to address a question on alleged Russia ties.
• The next day Palmer wrote there was no clear winner, arguing the event undercut claims that debating the AfD is unwinnable and offering lessons for how to challenge it on policy.