Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the growing influence of Germany’s far right at a rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Saturday evening.
The protesters used lamps and their mobile phones to form what organizers described as a “sea of lights” directed against the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The police in the German capital put turnout at around 30,000.
The rally was held a month before Germans go to the polls in a general election in which the anti-immigration and eurosceptic AfD is expected to achieve a strong result.
Protesters want firewall against AfD to stay
Christoph Bautz, founder of the political pressure group Campact and one of the initiators of the demonstration in Berlin, demanded that the mainstream parties preserve their long-standing “firewall” against working with the AfD.
He made a direct appeal to conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who is the front-runner in the February 23 election and has vowed a migration crackdown should he become chancellor.
Bautz said that if Merz makes common cause with the AfD to push tougher migration measures through the parliament, then “an uprising of decent people will break out in this country.”
Merz has repeatedly said his CDU/CSU bloc will not form a government with the AfD. But he ignited a furore this week when he suggested he was willing to accept the party’s support in parliament in order to get his migration policies approved.
The demonstrators rallying in front of the Brandenburg Gate chanted: “We are the firewall.”
Many families with children were present. Several posters were directed against the Alternative for Germany, such as the slogan: “There is no alternative to the AfD being stupid.”
‘Nobody likes Nazis except Merz’
There were similar protests in western Germany on Saturday.
Police estimated that around 40,000 people took to the streets in Cologne on Saturday, where authorities had expected only around 5,000 demonstrators.
Many placards were directed not only against the AfD, but also explicitly against Merz.
Some demonstrators carried signs reading “Nobody likes Nazis except Merz.”
Demonstration in Aschaffenburg
In Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, police said some 3,000 people turned out there on Saturday to warn against a shift to the right.
On Wednesday afternoon, a 2-year-old boy and a man were killed in a stabbing attack in a park in Aschaffenburg.
A refugee from Afghanistan, who was previously known to the police, was taken into custody for the attack. Authorities said the 28-year-old should have been deported some time ago given his past history.
The stabbing led to a sharpening of the immigration debate ahead of the parliamentary elections on February 23.
People take part in a demonstration against the right in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Marion van der Kraats/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
“Kein Bock auf Nazis” is written on a flag during a demonstration against the right in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Hannes P Albert/dpa
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