Leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have described mass nationwide protests against the party as “a distraction” and a desperate “last effort” to score political points before three key state elections in eastern Germany in September. AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel argued on Monday that the anti-immigrant party was being “defamed and slandered,” but vowed that the protests and negative press coverage “will not harm us in the long run, it will make us stronger.” Her co-chairman, Tino Chrupalla, claimed that the mass protests against the AfD and other far-right groups are “a d…