Düsseldorf, Osnabrück, Sigmaringen: Demonstrations continue against the right and the AfD. The Defense Minister also took the floor at a rally to give a clear warning.
Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations against the right. According to the organizers’ initial estimates, there were at least 30,000 people in Düsseldorf alone – the police initially did not want to confirm the number, but spoke of a very strong crowd.
There were also demonstrations in many other places in Germany, in some places with prominent political support. In Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) was there privately. In Osnabrück, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) warned against the AfD at a rally.
Pistorius: “They want to go back to the dark times”
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.” Pistorius also drew a comparison with the Weimar Republic, which did not collapse because of its enemies, but because of the weakness of its friends.
“Today we know better, history must not repeat itself,” said the SPD politician. Police and organizers spoke of around 25,000 participants in Osnabrück.
Düsseldorf: “Not again!”
In Düsseldorf, the demonstration was under the motto “Against the AfD – We are not silent. We don’t look away. We act!” The protesters included people of all ages, including many families with children. In Düsseldorf tradition, some of the demonstrators marched with punk music.
The banners had inscriptions such as “I generally don’t like Nazis” 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 from which we can’t get out.”
15,000 participants in Kiel
In Kiel, the organizers counted more than 15,000 participants in a demonstration against right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism; the police said there were 11,500 people. “Our democracy is more stable than the democracy of 100 years ago, but let’s not be too sure,” said Mayor Ulf Kampf (SPD) at the rally.
But people were also on the streets in smaller towns: According to initial information, the police counted 4,000 demonstrators in Singen, and around 2,000 people in Sigmaringen. In Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate, the police spoke of around 1,500 people at an anti-right-wing demonstration.
Chancellor Scholz: “Our country is currently on its feet”
Already on Friday, thousands of people took to the streets in several cities. There were protests in Frankfurt am Main, Saarbrücken, Herne and Gütersloh. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, more than 900,000 people took part in anti-right-wing demonstrations last weekend.
It relied on police information. Today’s demonstrations coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day, when numerous events commemorate the victims of National Socialism.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) welcomed the numerous demonstrations against right-wing extremism in the last 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. It is strong when we support it. And it needs us when it is attacked.”
Correctiv revelations sparked protests
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 “non-assimilated 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 “Bild” and for RTL/ntv), the AfD lost popularity, but it remained the second strongest force after the Union.
The AfD is assessed as definitely right-wing extremist by the respective Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, and is classified as a suspected case nationwide.
Source: Stern

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