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From Sylt to Überlingen: Overview of planned protest actions in Germany

Photo: [M] Alexander Trempler / DER SPIEGEL;

Photo: dpa

After reports of a conspiratorial meeting to deport millions of people from Germany, tens of thousands of people across Germany want to take to the streets again to take a stand against right-wing extremism and for democracy.

(Read more about the secret meeting in Potsdam here: The ethnic visions of the AfD)

A total of around 90 rallies have been registered for the weekend in large and small cities, according to a list on the “Together Against the Right” portal.

In Munich alone, more than 200 organizations are calling for a large demonstration on Sunday.

Events are already planned for Friday afternoon in Stralsund, Hamburg, Münster, Jena and Rosenheim.

Numerous cities are also calling for protests on Saturday and Sunday.

This map provides an overview:

There have already been protests against the right across the country in the past few days.

Participation consistently exceeded expectations.

In Cologne, for example, 1,000 demonstrators were originally registered on Tuesday evening - despite the biting cold, tens of thousands of people came.

The silent majority on the street

At the moment, those who had been waiting for a long time for a suitable opportunity to take a stand against the AfD were taking to the streets, says sociologist Armin Nassehi.

"These are actually the ones who can be described as the silent majority." The numerically dominant part of the population - but they usually don't speak out because they are basically satisfied.

»Empirical social research tells us that people are much more satisfied with their personal situations than the published opinion reflects.«

Because for most people, they usually neither speak up on social networks nor go to demonstrations.

This creates the impression that society is highly polarized, because in public it is primarily those with very strong opinions that speak out.

The moderates – and that is the majority – remain silent.

"But now is a moment in which the silent majority realizes that something is actually at stake," says Nassehi.

“And here she lets herself be heard for once.”

This will probably not reduce the AfD's following, as the latest surveys also indicate.

Nassehi assumes that the demonstrations can have a solidarity effect among AfD sympathizers along the lines of: “You can see once again that these strange left-green elites have something against us.” But that is a mistake in this respect By no means only convinced leftists demonstrated.

"You can also turn this into a positive and say: We see that, regardless of all current events, there is a great stability of voters who are unreachable for the AfD and social radicalism in general."

The reason for the numerous recent demonstrations is a meeting of right-wing networkers, which the media company Correctiv reported on.

The topic of the meeting in a Potsdam country hotel: a so-called master plan to expel people of foreign origin in the event that the AfD would one day have more power in the country.

sak/dpa