At least 300,000 people took to the streets throughout Germany on Saturday to demonstrate against the far right. Through German media you can see how streets and squares in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich and many smaller places have been filled with demonstrators. In recent days, tens of thousands of people have taken to the German streets to protest against the far right, although Saturday’s demonstration is probably the largest to date.
Even on the small northern German island of Sylt, it is estimated that between six hundred and a thousand people demonstrated. Participants in the protests carry signs and banners with texts such as “Never again is now”, “Stop the AfD” and “One Wannsee conference was enough”, referring to the Nazi meeting in 1942 at which it was decided to gassing Jews.
The immediate reason for the protests was a research article by the German Correctiv. The medium reported that AfD politicians, right-wing extremists and wealthy entrepreneurs would have discussed a “master plan” during a meeting to “remigrate” millions of people – asylum seekers, people with a residence permit and Germans who are not sufficiently “adjusted”. From the AfD, a member of the Bundestag and the leader of the Saxony-Anhalt branch were present.
Big in the polls
After the reporting Correctiv some AfD politicians tried to distance themselves from the meeting. Others, including Bundestag member René Springer, embraced the message that was allegedly proclaimed there. According to Springer, there was nothing secret about the plan to send “millions of foreigners” back to their countries of origin. “That’s a promise.”
The radical right AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) is currently doing very well in the German polls and is second nationally. Its popularity is even greater in eastern Germany. Elections will take place in September in the states of Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony and in all three the AfD appears to be the largest party – even an absolute majority may be an option.
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