Hundreds of thousands took to the streets across Germany on Saturday against the right and for democracy. According to the police and organizers, at least 300,000 people demonstrated in total. In Frankfurt am Main and Hannover alone there were 35,000 people each – one motto was “the defense of democracy”.
Tens of thousands of people also gathered in other cities to peacefully protest – for example against the rise of the AfD. In Hanover, the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil (SPD), called on people during the meeting to take a clear stand against the right in their own environment and to stand up for human rights and democracy. “Let’s defend our democracy,” he shouted. The demonstrators carried posters with slogans such as “We are colorful” and “Fascism is not an alternative”. According to police, about 15,000 people also demonstrated in Braunschweig.
“Against exclusion, hatred and agitation”
In Dortmund, the police estimated the number of participants at 30,000. In Wuppertal, the police estimated the number of participants at around 10,000 and in Recklinghausen at around 12,000. The motto of the demo there was “Together and solidarity! Against exclusion, hatred and agitation!” In Stuttgart, people gathered under the motto “All together against the AfD”. The demonstration was organized by the Stuttgart Alliance Against the Right, which estimated the number of participants at 20,000 people – a police spokesman thought that was possible. According to the police in Karlsruhe, there were also 20,000. According to police, about 18,000 people gathered in Heidelberg.
Kassel: Twelve times more participants than expected
In Kassel, the police spoke of 12,000 participants – twelve times as many as expected. Participants carried posters with slogans such as “Nazis and anti-Semites must be expatriated” and “Together against extremists for democracy”. According to the police, there were more than 12,000 demonstrators in Giessen.
According to police, thousands of people also took to the streets in Bavaria, including at least 15,000 in Nuremberg. Chants shouted: “All of Nuremberg hates the AfD!” According to the police, there were 9,000 people in Erfurt, the organizers said 10,000. According to official information, approximately 16,000 participants demonstrated in Halle/Saale.
On Friday evening, a demonstration against the right and the AfD in Hamburg had to be canceled due to the large number of people. One of the organizers mentioned safety concerns.
In particular, representatives of trade unions, associations, the Greens and the SPD called on people to take part in the protests. CDU leader Friedrich Merz called the national demonstrations encouraging. “The ‘silent’ majority is raising its voice and showing that it wants to live in a country that is cosmopolitan and free,” he said in Berlin on Saturday morning. “We stand with those who are committed to our democracy, our rule of law and our open society,” Merz said. “Let us not allow discriminatory slogans or right-wing extremist slogans.”
The protests, which have been going on for several days, were triggered by a report from the media company “Correctiv” about a meeting of right-wing extremists in a villa in Potsdam on November 25. Several AfD politicians and individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union also took part. There, under the heading of ‘remigration’, they discussed how millions of people of foreign origin could be deported from the country.
“Reminiscent of the terrible Wannsee Conference”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) was reminded of the Wannsee Conference of the National Socialists during the meeting in Potsdam. “This involuntarily brings back memories of the terrible Wannsee conference,” she told media group Funke. She doesn’t want to equate the two. “But what lies behind innocent-sounding terms like ‘remigration’ is the idea of expelling and deporting people en masse because of their ethnic origins or their political views.”
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942 – exactly 82 years ago – senior Nazi officials discussed the systematic murder of up to eleven million Jews in Europe. The purpose of the meeting in a villa on Lake Wannsee in Berlin was to accelerate the implementation of the genocide. It is considered one of the most important dates of the Holocaust.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
