01/20/2024 – 18:26
Tens of thousands take to the streets in cities like Frankfurt and Hannover in defense of democracy. A secret ultra-right meeting to discuss the deportation of foreigners generated outrage in the country. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in various parts of Germany this Saturday (20/01) in protest against right-wing extremism and in defense of democracy. According to estimates, demonstrations in Frankfurt, Hannover, Nuremberg and other cities brought together around 250 thousand protesters in total.
The new wave of protests, which have been occurring since last week, came in response to a secret meeting held by members of the ultra-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party with neo-Nazis to discuss a plan to deport millions of foreigners.
Demonstrations were also recorded in cities such as Kassel, Wuppertal, Karlsruhe and Erfurt, as well as in smaller municipalities and villages, with some raising signs that alluded to the name of the ultra-right party: “Fascism is not an alternative”.
In Frankfurt, around 35,000 people joined a march in “defense of democracy”. Protesters filled the city's central square, where the protest was planned, as well as a second nearby square and streets in between. The police reported that the act was peaceful.
One of the organizers, Peter Josiger, said the deportation plan discussed at the secret meeting is “nothing less than an attack on the basis of our coexistence.” He also appealed for “an active stance against the right on the part of the entire society”.
In Hannover, former German president Christian Wulff and the governor of the state of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, addressed the approximately 35,000 protesters on Opera Square. Those present carried banners with phrases such as “We are diverse” and “Voting for the AfD is so 1933”, referring to the year in which Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler took power in Germany.
Events in more than 100 cities
Another 30,000 attended the march in the western city of Dortmund. The police also estimated the presence of 20,000 protesters in Stuttgart, 12,000 in Kassel, 7,000 in Wuppertal, 20,000 in Karlsruhe, at least 10,000 in Nuremberg, around 16,000 in Halle (Saale) and 5,000 in Koblenz.
In total this weekend, acts are expected in more than 100 German cities. This Sunday, protests were called in Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Dresden, Leipzig and Bonn.
On Friday, a large demonstration took place in Hamburg, the largest protest of its kind to date. The event had to be stopped early after gathering many more people than expected. The police estimated the presence of 50,000 people, while organizers speak of 80,000, stressing that the number would be higher if the demonstration had not been ended before many managed to arrive.
Why are so many protesting now?
The secret meeting held by AfD members sparked nationwide outrage when it came to light ten days ago. It took place in Potsdam in November and also included politicians from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party of former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, today the largest opposition party.
The case was first revealed by the investigative journalism website Correctiv, and then confirmed by the AfD on January 10. The party, however, denies any plans to adopt such a proposal and claims that it was not a partisan event.
The report reported that during the meeting, an Austrian extremist leader, Martin Sellner, presented a plan to expel millions of asylum seekers and immigrants from Germany, including those with German citizenship who have not integrated into the country.
At the meeting, the so-called “remigration” was discussed, a term often used in far-right circles as a euphemism for the expulsion of immigrants and minorities, including naturalized Germans.
The case has shocked many in Germany, at a time when the AfD is riding high in election polls ahead of three major regional elections in the east of the country, where support for the party is strongest.
The reaction of German politicians
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz – who last weekend attended a protest alongside Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock – said any plan to deport foreigners represents an “attack on democracy and, in turn, on all of us.” .
Scholz also called on Germans “to take a stand – for cohesion, for tolerance, for our democratic Germany”.
The Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, noted that the secret meeting took place in a hotel in Potsdam, close to where the Nazi party, on January 20, 1942 – exactly 82 years ago – coordinated the so-called “Final Solution” and discussed the systematic murder of millions of Jews in Europe.
“This involuntarily brings back memories of the terrible Wannsee Conference,” the minister told the Funke media group this Saturday.
Faeser highlighted that he has no intention of comparing the two events, but said it is important to make it clear that “what is hidden behind harmless-sounding terms like 'remigration' is the idea of expelling and deporting people en masse due to their ethnic origin. or your political opinions.”
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, Governor Hendrik Wüst of the CDU called for a “centre alliance” between all parties and levels of government.
“We need the Democrats to be united,” he said, calling the AfD a “dangerous Nazi party” that is not based on the German Constitution.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, said it was “very encouraging that thousands of people are demonstrating peacefully against right-wing extremism”. He did not comment on the fact that members of his party were present at the Potsdam meeting.
ek (AFP, DPA, AP)
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