More than 100,000 people demonstrated across Germany on Saturday against the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which sparked anger after its members discussed plans for mass deportations of migrants.
About 35,000 people participated in a demonstration under the slogan “Defending Democracy – Frankfurt against the Alternative for Germany” party, and marched in the center of the city, which is the financial center of Germany.
A similar number demonstrated in the city of Hanover (north), and some of them carried banners with slogans written on them, most notably “Let the Nazis go.”
Protests were also held in cities including Braunschweig, Erfurt, Kassel and several small towns.
In all, demonstrations have been called in about 100 locations across Germany from Friday through the weekend, with protests scheduled in Berlin on Sunday.
The mobilization was not limited to politicians, but included churches and coaches in the German Football League who urged people to stand against the Alternative for Germany party.
Anger erupted against the far-right party after a report issued on January 10 by the investigative organization Correctiv revealed that AfD members discussed during a meeting the expulsion of immigrants and “unintegrated German citizens.”
Among the participants in that meeting was Martin Sellner, leader of the Austrian Nationalist Movement, which adopts the theory of the “great replacement” of the “original” European population with non-white immigrants.
The meeting sent shockwaves through Germany, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party rising in opinion polls, just months before three major regional elections in the east of the country, where it has strong support.
The anti-immigration party confirmed that its members would attend the meeting, but denied adopting the “reverse immigration” project that Sellner advocates.
However, prominent politicians, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who participated in a protest demonstration last weekend, said that any plan to expel German immigrants or citizens is tantamount to “an attack on our democracy, and therefore on all of us.”
Schulz urged “everyone to take a stand for cohesion and tolerance and for the German Democratic Republic.”
The leader of the opposition conservative Christian Democratic Union Party, Friedrich Merz, also said on the “X” platform, “It is very encouraging that thousands of people are demonstrating peacefully against right-wing extremism.”
In addition to members of the Alternative for Germany party, two members of the extreme right wing of the Christian Democratic Union party participated in the meeting that took place near Potsdam, according to the Correctiv organization.
#demonstrators #Germany