At least 150,000 people demonstrated in front of the Bundestag in Berlin to denounce the actions of the AfD, the far-right party, which is gaining momentum in the polls.
The wave of demonstrations against the far right continues in Germany. At least 150,000 people gathered Saturday afternoon in front of the headquarters of the national parliament.
This powerful wave of mobilization, quite unprecedented across the Rhine, was launched three weeks ago after publication of a press report recounting the holding of a secret meeting in Potsdam on the theme of remigration-expulsion of millions of immigrants including German nationality. A meeting attended by various representatives of the far right and in particular from the AfD party (Alternative for Germany).
The meeting shocked part of the public all the more because it was held not far from the castle where the Nazi leaders had decided to involve the German state apparatus in the implementation of the extermination of the Jews (Wannsee conference).
Saturday’s protest attracted more participants than organizers expected, despite intermittent rain showers in the German capital. Police said that as of mid-afternoon Saturday, about 150,000 people were in attendance.
Similar anti-far-right protests in other German cities, including Freiburg in the south and Hanover in the west, also attracted thousands of participants on Saturday.
Under the slogan “We are the firewall” – a reference to the long-standing taboo against collaboration with the far right in German politics – protesters transformed the space next to the Bundestag into a sea of signs, flags and umbrellas.
Residents who came from across Germany to attend Saturday’s protest said they felt it was important to be there to show their opposition to racism and their warning against a repeat of history.
“We absolutely must not allow the stories we experienced in the 1930s or even the 1920s to happen again… We must do everything we can to prevent this.”said Jonas Schmidt, from the western port city of Bremen. “That’s why I’m here.”
Kathrin Zauter, another protester, called the large turnout a “really encouraging”.“It encourages everyone and shows that there are more of us, there are many of us,” she said.
Saturday’s protest was the latest in a series of similar rallies across the country, many of which drew far more participants than organizers expected. In Hamburg and Munich late last month, protests had to end prematurely due to security concerns over crowding too many people in cramped spaces.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the protests, writing in a post on social network X on Saturday that citizens’ presence at the rallies is “a strong sign for democracy and our constitution.”
Founded in 2013 as a Eurosceptic party, the AfD first entered the Bundestag in 2017. Recent polls place the party in second place nationally with support above 20%, well above 10, 3% of the votes he won in the last federal elections of 2021. .
If polls show that the AfD is the leading party in East Germany, this wave of protest from civil society has already had consequences. Not only is the AfD falling slightly in the polls but the party failed last week to win a second cantonal presidency in the district of Saale-Orla, in Thuringia when the party was given the winner.
At this stage the AfD nevertheless remains the second most popular party in Germany behind the conservative opposition CDU-CSU.