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Osnabrück: Demonstration against right-wing extremism

Photo: Friso Gentsch/dpa

Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations against right-wing extremism on Saturday. According to the police, up to 100,000 people gathered in Düsseldorf alone. There were also demonstrations in many other places in Germany, in some places with prominent political support. Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) was there privately in Sigmaringen, and Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) also demonstrated in Aachen.

In Osnabrück, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) warned against the AfD at a rally. Police and organizers spoke of around 25,000 demo participants. Pistorius said the AfD wanted system change. "That means nothing other than that they want to go back to the dark times of racial madness, discrimination, inequality and injustice." He drew a comparison with the Weimar Republic, which perished not because of its enemies, but because of the weakness of its friends be. "Today we know better; history must not repeat itself."

In Düsseldorf, the demonstration was under the motto “Against the AfD – We will not be silent.” We don't look away. We are taking action!” There were people of all ages among the protesters, including many families with children. In Düsseldorf tradition, some of the demonstrators marched with punk music. On the banners there were inscriptions like "I don't like Nazis in general" and "Not again!" A 69-year-old, who, in his own words, took part in a demonstration for the first time in decades, said: "If we don't show our colors now, we'll go in a direction we can’t get out of.”

The mayor of Düsseldorf, Stephan Keller (CDU), said that around 1930 the dangers to the first German democracy were underestimated. Warners were laughed at. “This must not happen to us again,” he warned. “We shout to the extremists: You will never be in the majority again!”

Demos from Kiel to Singen

In Kiel, the police counted around 11,500 participants in a demonstration against right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism. "Our democracy is more stable than the democracy of 100 years ago, but let's not be too sure," said Mayor Ulf Kampf (SPD). According to the police, there were around 8,000 demonstrators in Lübeck, around 6,000 in Kaiserslautern and around 4,000 in Worms. According to initial information from officials, there were around 12,500 people in Aachen and more than 12,000 in Marburg. In Weimar the police counted 1,500 people, the organizers spoke of 2,000.

But people were also on the streets in smaller towns, a selection: According to initial information, the police counted 4,000 demonstrators in Singen, and around 2,000 people in Sigmaringen. In Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, officials spoke of around 1,500 people at a demonstration against the right, and in Elmshorn of around 4,000 people.

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, more than 900,000 people took part in demonstrations against right-wing extremism last weekend. It relied on police information. The protests continued on Friday, for example in Frankfurt am Main, Saarbrücken, Herne and Gütersloh. The demonstrations this Saturday coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day, on which numerous events commemorated the victims of National Socialism.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) welcomed the numerous demonstrations against right-wing extremism in the past few days and weeks. »Our country is currently on its feet. “Millions of citizens are taking to the streets,” he said in his weekly video “Chancellor Compact.” It is the solidarity of the democrats that makes democracy strong. »Our democracy is not God-given. It is man-made. She is strong when we support her. And she needs us when she’s attacked.”

The protests were triggered by revelations by the Correctiv research center about a meeting of radical right-wingers on November 25th, in which some AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative “Values ​​Union” took part in Potsdam. The former head of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” in Austria, Martin Sellner, said he spoke about “remigration” at the meeting. When right-wing extremists use the term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country - even under duress. According to Correctiv, Sellner named three target groups: asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to remain and "unassimilated citizens."

New state parliaments will be elected in September in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. According to surveys, the AfD could become the strongest force in all three federal states, even by a significant margin. In two nationwide surveys conducted last week by the institutes Insa and Forsa (for the "Bild" newspaper and for RTL/ntv), the AfD lost popularity, but remained the second strongest force after the Union with 21.5 and 20 percent respectively. In Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, the AfD is assessed as definitely right-wing extremist by the respective Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and nationwide it is classified as a suspected case.

wit/dpa