Germany: 1.4M Protest Against Right-Wing AfD in Weekend Demonstrations

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Facts

  • Mass protests against the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party took place in Berlin and other major cities across Germany over the weekend. Thousands also took to the streets in cities in the country's east that are viewed as having a strong AfD presence including Dresden and Leipzig.1
  • In the capital Berlin, around 100K people rallied in the city center on Sunday evening, while at least 100K demonstrators reportedly gathered in Munich in southern Germany — far more than was expected. A planned protest march through the city was called off by the organizing groups, known as Campact and Fridays for Future, due to overcrowding.2
  • In Cologne, about 10K people turned out, according to the local police. In Frankfurt, another 35K people took to the streets on Saturday for a peaceful 'Defend Democracy' march. In total, more than 1.4M people gathered in more than 100 German cities over the weekend in opposition to what the group calls the far-right AfD.3
  • In a video message on Sunday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the protests as an encouraging sign against 'misanthropy and right-wing extremism.' German Vice-Chancellor and Green Party politician Robert Habeck also expressed his support for the demonstrators he said were 'flying the flag for our democracy.'4
  • The mass protests against the AfD were sparked following a report by the investigative journalism network Correctiv in early January. The report alleged that AfD members discussed the mass deportation of migrants, asylum seekers, and citizens of foreign origin — the so-called 'remigration' project — at a meeting with neo-Nazis and other far-right individuals.5
  • Meanwhile, the AfD distanced itself from the meeting, describing it as a 'private event and not an AfD party event' while denying that a deportation 'master plan' was part of its political agenda. The public outcry that followed the meeting's revelation intensified calls for banning the AfD, which has recently reached new heights in the polls.6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2France 24, 3DW, 4Reuters, 5The Guardian and 6CNN.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. The secret AfD-Nazi meeting is reminiscent of the Wannsee Conference in Nazi Germany and thus of the darkest chapter in German history. However, these protests are an encouraging sign that people have recognized the need to prove their spirit of cohesion and humanity is stronger than that of exclusion and fear. The AfD is exploiting the legitimate concerns of many Germans but has no political solutions to offer — only populism and hatred. Nothing less than the future of democracy is at stake.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Spiked. The liberal mainstream press is jumping on the AfD's alleged 'remigration plan,' and hundreds of thousands of citizens are falling for the government's campaign to discredit the millions of citizens who agree with the party's fear for the future. German farmers protesting against the government's policies are just the latest example of this. The real reason the political establishment is now discussing banning the AfD is that this genuine fear could be expressed at the ballot box. If the establishment believed in democracy, why are they considering banning a popular political party?

Predictions