Germany: Tens of thousands in Berlin protest far right

Around 150,000 people have attended a protest rally in the German capital, Berlin, against the far right and its ideology, the latest in a series of such demonstrations across Germany in recent weeks.

The wave of protests follows a recent report by the investigative network Correctiv on a secret meeting, attended by neo-Nazis, business people and members of the political parties AfD and CDU, among others, where participants discussed a secret plan for the mass deportation of millions of immigrants. 

What happened in Berlin?

Berlin police said on Saturday afternoon that more than 150,000 people were attending the demonstration, while organizers put the figure at around 300,000.

The location set aside for the demonstration in front of the Reichstag building — the seat of the German Bundestag, or parliament — was overfilled, forcing police to make more space available, a spokeswoman said.

According to a reporter from the AFP news agency, hundreds of people held hands to form a symbolic ring around the Reichstag protecting it from far-right attacks.

Many of them chanted slogans were directed against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which propagates a virulent anti-immigration policy. Some of its members were also present at the Potsdam meeting reported on by Correctiv.

"The AfD is already very open about exclusion. I think it is good that people here are showing that they are against exclusion," a man at the protest in Berlin told DW.

Another protester said: "We can see in Poland or Hungary, how quickly democracy is being dismantled and constitutional bodies restricted. I think that could happen to us too."

More than 1,300 associations, initiatives and institutions had called for the demonstration under the motto "We are the firewall."

Several other protests against the far right also took place across Germany on Saturday, where about 30,000 people gathered in Freiburg, about 25,000 in Augsburg, about 10,000 in Krefeld, according to police information. 

Politicians join rallies, voice support

Several politicians attended the demonstration in Berlin, including Saskia Esken, the leader of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, from the same party.

Family Minister Lisa Paus of the environmental Greens, which together with the center-left SPD and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) make up Germany's ruling coalition, was also present, saying, "This engagement is so important in these times."

Chancellor Scholz voiced his support for the protests across Germany in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling them a "strong signal for democracy and our constitution."

The AfD was angry at the government support for the protests, asking on X: "What have we in Germany actually come to when a government calls a demonstration against part of the population?" 

Although the far-right party has seen its popularity ratings drop slightly following the Correctiv report, it is currently Germany's second-most popular party, coming behind only the conservative CDU.

tj/nm (AFP, KNA)

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