Tens of thousands of people protested the far right in cities across Germany on Saturday, attending events with slogans such as “Never Again is Now,” “Against Hate” and “Defend Democracy.” The large crowds were the latest in a series of demonstrations that have been gaining momentum in recent days.
The demonstrations came in the wake of a report that right-wing extremists recently met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship. Some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, were present at the meeting.
Police said a Saturday afternoon protest in Frankfurt drew 35,000 people. Demonstrations in Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Hannover, among other cities, also drew large crowds.
A similar demonstration Friday in Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city, drew what police said was a crowd of 50,000 and had to be ended early because the mass of people led to safety concerns.
Additional protests planned for Sunday in other major German cities, including Berlin, Munich and Cologne, are also expected to draw tens of thousands of people.
Although Germany has seen other protests against the far right in past years, the size and scope of protests being held this weekend — not just in major cities, but also in dozens of smaller cities across the country — are notable.
Saturday’s crowds were a sign that the protests seem to be galvanizing popular opposition to the AfD in a new way. What started out as relatively small gatherings have grown into protests that, in many cases, are drawing far more participants than organizers expected.
The catalyst for the protests was a report from the media outlet Correctiv last week on an alleged far-right meeting in November, which it said was attended by figures from the extremist Identitarian Movement and from the AfD. A prominent member of the Identitarian Movement, Austrian citizen Martin Sellner, presented his “remigration” vision for deportations, the…
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