After coordination: Protests against AfD and CDU course – police: 160,000 in Berlin

In protest against the joint coordination of the Union and AfD in the Bundestag, tens of thousands of people across Germany have once again taken to the streets. According to the police, there were around 160,000 demonstrators in Berlin alone, and the organizers stated 250,000 participants. Around 15,000 came together in Saarbrücken and between 13,000 and 14,000 in Kiel. In Regensburg, Ulm, Potsdam and other cities, people also moved onto the streets while there was a boat demo on the Rhine in Cologne.

The reason for the demonstrations is that the CDU and CSU had enforced an application to tighten migration policy on Wednesday in the Bundestag with the help of the AfD. For the first time, the AfD procured a majority in the plenum – but the requested application has no binding effect. A draft law introduced by the Union to limit migration had failed on Friday.

Demonstration in front of the CDU party center

In Berlin, people initially gathered in front of the Reichstag building. The demonstration then stretched from the victory column to the CDU party center. It was under the motto “Uprising of the decent – we are the fire wall!” The Campact campaign alliance had called for this.

Many participants had posters and banners with them. Among other things, they read “It is 5 before 1933” and “No Merz in February”. Also “dear Merz-Los as heart-free” and “CDU, give us the C back”, could be read. In front of the CDU party center, demonstrators shone with cell phone lights, there were boos for the Union Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). The demonstrators shouted: “We are the fire wall”, Merz should be ashamed.

Friedman: “The CDU is a democratic party”

The publicist Michel Friedman recently leaked out of the CDU said that in all the legitimate criticism of the behavior of the CDU, one thing should not be forgotten: “The CDU is a democratic party.” With a view to the AfD, he added: “The party of hate is the party that is not on the ground of democracy.” Nevertheless, the “mistake” of the CDU remains unexcused for him.

The former Council President of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Heinrich Bedford -Strohm, said that there should never be a coordination like that of the Union and AfD – especially since the victim of National Socialism was only thought shortly before. From now on it must apply: “You do not do a common thing with those who step on human dignity. Point.”

Water sports enthusiasts demonstrate with 350 boats on the Rhine

Under the motto “colorful instead of brown”, water sports enthusiasts demonstrated in Cologne with a total of 350 boats. In sunny weather, they lined up in front of the skyline with the cathedral on the Rhine. To do this, they kept transparent with inscriptions such as “no racism” and “for democracy and diversity”.

The unusual rally was organized by the “water sports fans Neptune Cologne”. In this form, the demonstration on the water is a premiere, it said. A total of around 1,000 people would have participated on the water and on land, said a spokeswoman for the water protection police.

Already on Saturday people had taken to the streets for diversity and for a delimitation of the Union to the AfD. According to police, around 65,000 people in Hamburg, around 14,000 in Essen. Demonstrations also took place in Leipzig, Stuttgart, Braunschweig, Würzburg, Augsburg, Bremen and other cities.