After the recent electoral victory of the AfD in a region in the east of the country, some 150,000 people took to the streets of around twenty cities in Germany on Saturday September 12, according to the organizers of the demonstrations, to protest against the far-right party.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-migrant and pro-Russian group, last week won almost 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, one of its strongholds in the former East Germany, and is now seeking to form the first far-right regional government in Germany since the end of World War II.
About 150,000 demonstrators marched in major German cities including the capital Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, called by Prüf, a national campaign that advocates for the banning of the AfD, organizers said.
Also readAfD’s clear victory in Saxony-Anhalt threatens “the German political system”
“Democracy does not need alternatives”
Protesters held signs saying “Ban the AfD now” or “Democracy needs no alternatives”.
“A large section of civil society is taking to the streets to prevent the enemies of the Constitution, the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, from coming to power,” said Christoph Bautz, director of the campaign group Campact, which took part in the protests.
The rise of the AfD worries a part of the population who believe that Germany has a particular responsibility because of its Nazi past. Calls are increasing for traditional parties to ban the party, but opinions on the advisability of a procedure to ban the AfD diverge.
Also readAfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt: the populist left making kings of the far right?
In Berlin – where an AfD counter-demonstration took place in the presence of Kristin Brinker, its lead candidate for the September 20 municipal election in the capital – thousands of people took to the streets during several demonstrations, according to police.
According to Campact, some 25,000 demonstrators marched in Hamburg and 12,000 in Munich.
With AFP
