250,000 demonstrators in the streets against the far-right AfD party, leading in the polls

Other rallies are planned for Sunday, notably in Berlin and Dresden, in Saxony, a stronghold of the anti-migrant and anti-system Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Political leaders, religious representatives, but also coaches from the Bundesliga, the German football championship, had called on the German population to mobilize. According to the public television channel ARD, around 250,000 people demonstrated on Saturday January 20 against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, currently at its highest in the polls a few months before three important regional elections in the east of the country, where the party has the most supporters.

The mobilization was triggered by the revelation, on January 10, by the German investigative media Correctiv, of a plan for mass expulsion of foreigners or people of foreign origin, discussed in November during a meeting of extremists in Potsdam, near Berlin. Among the participants were a figure from the radical identity movement, the Austrian Martin Sellner, and members of the AfD. A revelation that shook Germany.

Other gatherings planned for Sunday

The largest gatherings took place in Frankfurt, the country’s financial capital, with 35,000 participants according to local police. A similar number of demonstrators converged in Hanover (north), some holding placards “The Nazis outside”, while some 30,000 people also marched in the streets of Dortmund (west), and 16,000 in Halle (east), according to the police. Demonstrations were also held in Erfurt, Aachen, Kassel and many other smaller cities, like the daily mobilizations this week.

Other rallies are planned for Sunday, notably in Berlin and Dresden, in Saxony, a stronghold of the anti-migrant and anti-system party.