After the revelations that rocked Germany, 100,000 people demonstrated against the far-right

More than 100,000 people demonstrated across Germany this Saturday, January 20, 2024, against the far-right AfD party, whose members recently discussed the mass deportation of foreigners during an extremist rally.

Around 35,000 people gathered behind the banner “Save democracy – Frankfurt against the AfD” in Frankfurt, the bastion of German finance.

An equal number of demonstrators gathered in Hannover (north), some with “Nazis out” signs.

Also Read: Recession, inflation, demonstrations: why Germans don’t celebrate

A hundred events

Protests were reported in Braunschweig, Erfurt, Kassel and several other smaller towns, mirroring daily movements this week.

In total, calls for demonstrations were launched in about a hundred locations, including Berlin on Sunday, from Friday to Sunday evening.

Politicians, religious leaders and coaches from the German football championship Bundesliga have called on the population to mobilize against the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The movement was revealed by a German investigative media reformer on January 10 of a meeting of extremists in Potsdam, near Berlin, where, in November, a planned mass deportation of people of foreign origin was launched. Among the participants were a figure from the radical identity movement, the Austrian Martin Sellner, and members of the AfD.

Revelations that shook Germany

The revelations rocked Germany as the AfD surged in the polls, just months before three crucial regional elections in the east of the country, where the party has the most supporters.

The anti-immigration movement confirmed the presence of its members at the meeting, but refused to adhere to the “remigration” project led by Martin Sellner.

Many political leaders, including Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who took part in a demonstration last weekend, insisted that any plan to deport people of foreign origin was an attack on democracy.

Olaf Scholz called “Everyone take a stand – for unity, for tolerance, for our democratic Germany”.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative CDU party, decided on this “Very encouraging that thousands of people are demonstrating peacefully against extremism”.

But in addition to members of the AfD, two members of the CDU, who are affiliated with the party’s right wing VertUnion, also took part in the meeting revealed by Correctiv.

Vertünen leader Hans-Georg Maassen announced his split from the CDU on Saturday. The group claims 4,000 members.