GIESSEN, Nov. 30 -- A confident far-right Alternative for Germany set up its new youth organization on Saturday even as thousands of protesters converged on the western city of Giessen, where the party held its meeting, some of them clashing with police. A convention of the anti-immigration party, known by its German acronym AfD, started more than two hours late after groups of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the city of 93,000, delaying many delegates' arrival. Officers used pepper spray after stones were thrown at them at one location, police said. They also used water cannons to clear a blockade by about 2,000 protesters after they ignored calls to leave. They did so again Saturday afternoon as a group tried to break through barriers toward the city's convention center. Police said up to 5,000 officers were deployed, and 10 to 15 were slightly injured. Many people demonstrated peacefully. The regional government's interior minister, Roman Poseck, condemned the violence and put the total number of demonstrators at between 25,000 and 30,000. AfD's leaders assailed the protests as the meeting opened. "What is being done out there - dear left-wingers, dear extremists, you need to look at yourselves - is something that is deeply undemocratic," party co-leader Alice Weidel said. She said one AfD lawmaker was attacked. Police said that a lawmaker had been injured near Giessen but didn't give details. The new youth organisation's predecessor, the Young Alternative, a largely autonomous group with relatively loose links to the party, was dissolved at the end of March after AfD decided to formally cut ties with it....