Hamburg, Hanover, Frankfurt, Kassel, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Karlsruhe, Nuremberg and beyond. On Saturday and Sunday, the squares of many German cities filled with demonstrators against the AfD, the far-right Alternative for Germany party. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people took part, united by pro-democracy slogans and mottos […]
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Hamburg, Hanover, Frankfurt, Kassel, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Karlsruhe, Nuremberg and beyond. On Saturday and Sunday, the squares of many German cities filled with anti-demonstrators the AfD, the right-wing extremist party Alternative for Germany. It is estimated that they participated hundreds of thousands of people, united by slogans and mottos for democracy and against the national conservative, eurosceptic and anti-immigrant party. After the demonstrations on Saturday, many took to the streets on Sunday, well above the expected numbers. TO Munichdue to overcrowding to voter participation Record number of tens of thousands of people, the demonstration was even called interrupted. The organizers reported that approximately 50,000 people, twice as many as recorded at the event and expected by police. According to other estimates, the number of participants is likely to be even higher.
According to the organizers and the police, people only took to the streets on Saturday more than 250,000. Since significantly more participants arrived at many locations than registered, it was necessary to expand the demonstration areas and relocate the routes. Just one Frankfurt am Main More than 35,000 people took part, and a similar number also registered Hanover And Dortmund. According to the police a Karlsruhe Instead of the expected 1,000 demonstrators, around 20,000 people came. The demonstration took place in front of symbolic places such as the Fundamental Rights Square and the Federal Constitutional Court.
The demonstrations are a reaction to the “Correctiv” investigations. The 10. January Last year, the Consortium for Investigative Journalism revealed a secret meeting in Potsdam Berlinin which a plan was discussed the mass expulsion of migrants, Asylum seekers and “unassimilated” German citizens. Members of the AfD were also among the participants. The party confirmed the presence of its members at the event, but stated that it does not support the “return” project Martin Sellner, a leading figure of the New Right and the Identitarian Movement. Despite attempts, Scaling After the news from the party, the wave of indignation in the country was enormous and immediate. A country that has only recently reformed… Citizenship law This means you can no longer acquire German citizenship fastalso expands the right to have that One-two (previously only reserved for EU and Swiss citizens). Namely from previous demonstrations against the extreme right Olaf Scholz had tried to give new impetus to the government, whose popularity is at an all-time low: “From Cologne to Dresden, from Tübingen to Kiel, hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets in Germany these days to show their support for ours.” Democracy and against right-wing extremism”. However, surveys still rank the right-wing extremist party among the Germans' favorites: in a YouGov survey a few days ago, the AfD reached the top spot 24%positions itself as second partybehind the CDU-CSU al 29%. TO September 2024If the polls translate into votes, the far right could even think of winning the elections in some eastern states where it stands out in preferences: in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony In fact, the AfD is ranked as the top party in several surveys. over 30 %.
The German President Frank Walter Steinmeier welcomed the demonstrations and hoped an alliance “all Democrats.” “These people encourage us all. They defend ours and our republic Constitution against his enemies. They defend our humanity,” the president said in a statement Video message Sunday. In the clip, Steinmeier also underlined what all the demonstrators have in common: “They are against it.” Misanthropy and right-wing extremism. They want to continue to live together freely peaceful “A future,” the president continued, “that does not depend on the strength of your opponents, but on the strength of those who defend democracy.”