Demos against right-wing extremism: Thousands again on the streets

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Protest action in Herford

Photo: David Inderlied / dpa

People demonstrated against right-wing extremism in various cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the police, around 950 people came together in Ennepetal in the southern Ruhr area in the morning under the motto “Ennepetal against the AfD”. In Fröndenberg in the Unna district, around 1,200 people took to the streets, a police spokeswoman reported. According to her, there were around 2,000 demonstrators a good 30 kilometers away in Werne.

In Herford, the motto at a demonstration was: “No place for Nazis” or “Stop the hate”. Participants also carried posters with slogans such as “Strangers become friends,” “Hate is not an alternative for Germany,” and “In love with democracy.” The “Alliance against Right” in the Herford district had called for the “Shoulder to Shoulder Against Fascism” campaign. A reporter from the dpa news agency estimated the number of people taking part at the beginning of the demonstration at several hundred.

In Kierspe in the Märkisches Kreis, citizens also warned on posters at a rally: “Human dignity is inviolable” and “No power of the AfD”. According to the information, the events remained peaceful and went smoothly.

At least six demos in Baden-Württemberg

In Baden-Württemberg, events were planned in Sinsheim, Heidenheim, Creglingen, Erlenbach, Winnenden and Ostfildern. According to a police spokesman, around 1,500 people demonstrated in Sinsheim on Saturday under the motto “Sinsheim is colorful!” A demonstration under the title “Never again is now” took place in Heidenheim. When asked, a police spokesman did not want to give an estimate of the number of people taking part in Heidenheim.

In Gotha, Thuringia, demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday under the motto “Never again is now.” A representative of the organizing alliance “Gotha is colorful” spoke of at least 1,100 participants. The police estimated the number to be slightly smaller at around 1,000. The event has so far been largely trouble-free, said a spokesman for the state operations center early on Saturday afternoon.

In Rostock, people want to make a statement in the afternoon. The action alliance “Rostock nazifrei” and “Colourful instead of brown e. V.”. An event with several thousand people has been registered. The motto is “Never again is now – all together against fascism”. According to police, 6,500 people took part in a similar event on January 25th. At the time, the organizers spoke of almost ten thousand participants.

The protests were triggered by revelations by the media company “Correctiv” about a meeting of radical right-wing parties in November in Potsdam, which was also attended by AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative “Values ​​Union”. There, the former head of the right-wing extremist "Identitarian Movement" in Austria, Martin Sellner, fabled about "remigration" - the plan for a large number of people of foreign origin to leave the country, even under duress. According to Correctiv research, Sellner named three target groups in Potsdam: asylum seekers, immigrants with the right to remain - and "non-assimilated citizens."

lion/dpa