The awakening of civil society? Thousands of people are demonstrating across Germany against the right-wing extremists, who are accused of destroying democracy. They are also targeting the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, some of which are calling for a ban.
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From medium-sized cities to large metropolises, mobilization is spreading at the rate of several daily meetings. Around a hundred more demonstrations have been announced until Sunday.
The movement was triggered by the German investigative media Correctiv's revelation on January 10th about a meeting in Potsdam, near Berlin, at which a plan for the mass expulsion of people of foreign origin was discussed in November.
Among the participants were a representative of the radical identity movement, the Austrian Martin Sellner, and members of the AfD.
The story shocked a country that seemed to have accepted the rise in poll numbers of this anti-migrant formation, which emerged eleven years ago, as inevitable.
This “scandalous meeting” “revived the fear of deportations of millions of citizens or non-citizens, a fear that is part of the critical legacy of National Socialism,” Hajo Funke, a political scientist specializing in right-wing extremism, told AFP.
A few days after these revelations, thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin and Potsdam, including Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. The organizers of these gatherings seemed to be the first to be surprised by the crowds.
It seems to be evidence of a mobilization of this “silent majority”, which the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Thomas Haldenwang, recently called for.
Real face
“We can't make the same mistake again, I think it's terrible that we haven't learned anything,” Amelie Schmerling, a 76-year-old pensioner, demonstrated to AFP on Friday in Hamburg (North) among 30,000 people, according to the police 60,000 later Information from the organizers.
“I'm demonstrating for the first time in my life,” said Simon Kay, a 29-year-old student who wants to “show that many of us support democracy.”
In recent months, the AfD has exploited the population's uncertainty caused by a new influx of migrants into the country and the constant quarrels between the three parties in the governing coalition against the background of economic recession and high inflation.
This party “uses democratic structures, but has anti-democratic ideas,” denounced Gesien Schaunemann, 67, also at the Hamburg rally.
Olaf Scholz was pleased about these mobilizations and called on everyone in a press release on Friday to “take a stand – for cohesion, for tolerance, for our democratic Germany.”
The far-right party has firmly established itself in second place (around 22%) behind the Conservatives when it comes to voting intentions.
In its strongholds in the former GDR, it is in the lead with over 30% in the three federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, where state elections will take place in September.
After the shock of 2017 when it entered parliament, the AfD has integrated itself into the political landscape, even if all parties have ruled out an alliance with it.
Since the Potsdam meeting, “this normalization of the party has been completed,” says Funke, even though the party has declared that it does not support the “remigration” project presented by Martin Sellner.
The scandal revealed “the true face” of the party, said SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil during a debate in the Bundestag.
Ban AfD?
The voices calling for a ban on the AfD, especially from the Chancellor's party, are increasing.
A petition calling for Björn Höcke, AfD leader in Thuringia and the party's strongman, to be stripped of his constitutional rights has also collected more than a million signatures following the Correctiv revelations, although it has little chance of success.
In her state, the party is under increased surveillance and the secret services assume that it represents unconstitutional positions.
“The state has a duty to examine a possible ban on the AfD,” said Wolfgang Thierse, former Social Democratic President of the Bundestag.
However, the initiation of a process in this direction – very lengthy and complicated – is viewed with skepticism by most observers, as they fear that failure would further boost the AfD's popularity.
But “if it is proven that a party wants to transform the country into a fascist state, it must be banned, regardless of its strength,” said Green Party Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck in an interview with Stern magazine.