FRANKFURT:
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in towns and cities across Germany this weekend as the country enters its second week of nationwide protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The protests have since gained momentum References sourced from investigative news site Correctiv by a meeting of right-wing extremists in Potsdam, where immigration policies were discussed, including mass deportations of people of foreign origin.
The AfD, which is second in the polls in national surveys, has denied that the reported immigration plans are party policy.
On Sunday, rallies were held in Berlin, Munich and Cologne, as well as in more traditional AfD voting strongholds in eastern Germany such as Leipzig and Dresden, with turnout in many places far larger than expected.
Organizers in Munich ended the demonstration early due to overcrowding with about 100,000 participants, according to police. Protest organizers said 200,000 people took part. At the start of the Berlin event, there were 30,000 people and counting, police said.
Several tens of thousands also took to the streets in Cologne and Bremen on Sunday. Event organizers estimate that around 300,000 people demonstrated nationwide on Saturday.
“It’s a message to the world that we will not allow this to happen without comment,” said protester Steffi Kirschenmann, a Frankfurt-based social consultant, one of tens of thousands who gathered peacefully in sub-zero temperatures in the center of Frankfurt. Saturday.
Frankfurt Lord Mayor Mike Joseph, addressing the crowds in Romer Square, reminded protesters that it was the same spot where the Nazi regime had burned books.
The AfD declined to comment on the protests against it.
Business leaders have voiced their concerns, with Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE), opens a new tab chairman of the board of supervisors Joe Kaeser; he tells Reuters reports trigger “bitter memories.”
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President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has seen rallies across Germany against right-wing extremism as a show of strength. In a video message distributed on Sunday, Steinmeier said: “You stand against misanthropy and right-wing extremism, these people encourage us all.”
He called for an alliance of all democrats, saying “Let’s show that we are stronger together.”
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck told a local newspaper that he saw the protests as an encouraging sign for democracy.
“It is impressive to see that many people are now taking to the streets and holding the flag for our democracy,” the Green party politician told the Augsburger Allgemeine.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany also welcomed the demonstrations. For Jews, this is an image “that can restore confidence in the democratic conditions” of the country, Central Council chairman Josef Schuster told Welt-TV.
Germany’s Boersen-Zeitung on Saturday published a series of statements by companies listed on Germany’s DAX stock index in which the companies spoke out against xenophobia, anti-Semitism and political extremism on the far right.
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