TThousands of people protested against the AfD in Essen on Monday evening. According to police, 500 demonstrators were registered, but around 6,700 came. The participants marched through the Rüttenscheid district to the Grugahalle. Many carried banners with inscriptions such as: “Don’t let Nazis march or take part in government” or “Colourful instead of crappy brown”. Among the participants were groups such as “Grandmas Against the Right” and the DGB Youth.
This was called for by the “Essen opposes itself” alliance, which is supported by left-wing and civil organizations. In their announcement, the initiators explicitly referred to a report by the media company Correctiv about the participation of AfD officials at a meeting of radical right-wing circles in Potsdam last year, which caused concern nationwide.
In Leipzig, too, several thousand people demonstrated against the AfD and the ultra-conservative Values Union on Monday evening. The police estimated the number at around 6,000 to 7,000. The “Leipzig takes a seat” alliance called for the demonstration under the title “Enough!” The demonstrators chanted “Never again fascism” and participants had written “noAfD” and “AfD = Nazi Party” on posters.
Several thousand people demonstrate in Essen under the motto “Food stands up to one another”.
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Image: dpa
In downtown Rostock, almost 3,000 people took part in two simultaneous but different rallies on the Neuer Markt on Monday evening. According to police information, around 2,500 demonstrators took part in an event called for by the network “Rostock nazifrei – Colorful instead of brown eV”.
According to the police, less than 100 meters away, directly opposite the town hall, around 350 participants in a so-called Monday demonstration gathered under the motto “2024 – Where does Germany stand after 2 years of traffic light politics?” What awaits people in this country? The AfD state leader and member of the Bundestag Leif-Erik Holm, who was booed by the counter-demonstrators, also spoke at this rally.
The police separated both sides with a massive contingent of emergency services. Overall, both events were peaceful, according to the operations manager. In a brief incident, a protester attempted to pull Holm from a speaker's podium, but was unable to do so.
Germany-wide protests
Already at the weekend, people against the right took to the streets in several demonstrations across the country. According to the police, around 2,400 people demonstrated against a New Year's reception for the AfD in Duisburg on Saturday. In Düsseldorf, around 650 people took part in a rally to consider banning the party. On Sunday, thousands of people gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and in Berlin for large demonstrations against the right.
In Cologne, a “Spontaneous Alliance Against Racism” has also called for a demonstration against the AfD at the Heumarkt on Tuesday evening.
Collaboration ended
The AfD is now separating from an employee of party leader Alice Weidel after he took part in the well-known meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam. Roland Hartwig's employment contract as Weidel's advisor “will be terminated by mutual agreement,” a party spokesman said after a meeting of the Federal Executive Board on Monday evening in Berlin. This applies immediately. There was no further explanation. ZDF first reported.
The 69-year-old former Bundestag member Hartwig took part in the meeting in a Potsdam villa in November, as a party spokesman confirmed after corresponding research by the media company Correctiv became known
Debate about banning parties
After reports of a secret meeting between AfD politicians and right-wing extremists to expel people with a migrant background, politicians are continuing to discuss a process to ban the party. Leading representatives of the Union and the traffic light parties spoke out against such a step on Monday and called for a substantive debate with the AfD.
In view of the strengthening of the AfD, another possibility is now being discussed in addition to a ban procedure: an application for the deprivation of basic rights for outstanding enemies of the constitution. A petition has now been launched, which is specifically directed against the Thuringian AfD party and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke, whose regional association the Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as definitely right-wing extremist. The petition appeals to the parliamentary group leaders of the SPD, Greens, FDP and the opposition CDU/CSU and Left parties to persuade the federal government to submit a corresponding application to the Federal Constitutional Court. By Monday afternoon, more than 830,000 signatures had already been received on the Campact campaign network's petition platform.
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