Around 242,000 people demonstrated against racism in the center of Berlin, Germany, on Saturday 13 October.
Tens of thousands of people invaded central Berlin on Saturday (October 13th) to protest hatred and racism after the recent xenophobic slips in eastern Germany that shocked the country.
Some 242,000 protesters responded, said the collective #unteilbar (indivisible) who had said bet on some 40,000 participants.
The Berlin police did not give precise figures, simply speaking of "a few tens of thousands" .
"No place for the Nazis"
"Say it loud, say it clearly, we are all indivisible! " The participants shouted in bright sunshine and summer temperatures in the heart of the capital, before joining the iconic Brandenburg Gate where a scene had been staged.
Celebrities from the German music scene are expected to perform until the early evening at concerts interspersed with speeches by officials from multiple non-governmental organizations.
Some 900 members of the police supervised the incident, which was uneventful, the police added in the late afternoon.
"No place for the Nazis" , "rescue at sea is not a crime" , "more love, less hatred" , were included on the placards.
The #unteilbar collective is composed of various NGOs, artists or private persons. Thousands of people had already demonstrated in the streets of Hamburg or Munich in recent weeks.
There are also unions and religious or charitable organizations.
Protest against racism by the AfD
Behind the motto "For a free and open society - against exclusion, solidarity! It was to protest in particular against the racism conveyed by the extreme right, entered a year ago in the Chamber of Deputies.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) built its success by feeding the fears of the Germans after the influx of more than one million refugees between 2015 and 2016 in the country.
At the end of August, a demonstration of far-right sympathizers had degenerated into "hunting" abroad in the streets of Chemnitz just after the murder of a German attributed to a refugee. Some had paraded while making the Hitler salute.
The organizers also wanted to protest against discrimination in all its forms, the death of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, rising inequalities and attacks on the welfare state.
Politicians - mostly leftists - also supported the initiative, such as the popular Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
"We are colorful, we are indivisible. We are showing it today to all those who want to divide us , " the Social Democrat posted on his Twitter account.