Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated for democracy since Friday. Our map shows current and past demo events.
Creative in Dresden: up to 20,000 people gathered in the capital of the Saxon state on Sunday Photo: Sebastian Kahner dpa
SEDAN taz | “The potato also has a migrant origin,” says a cardboard sign from a protester in Budenheim. Around 1,300 people accompanied him on Friday afternoon in front of the Rheinhessen community center to demonstrate against the start of the AfD election campaign event. The deputy leader of the parliamentary group, Beatrix von Storch, was also invited. A man at the counter-demonstration makes it clear: “Budenheim does not believe in the Storch.”
Over the weekend (including Friday), at least 198,000 people demonstrated in 107 locations for a cosmopolitan and democratic society. This is demonstrated by an evaluation of the taz, which has been following the events of the demonstration for weeks. Our map contains detailed information about previous meetings.
Around the same time, 450 kilometers east of Budenheim, neo-Nazi Martin Sellner spoke at a rally of the far-right Identitarian Movement in the center of Chemnitz. Around 260 people demonstrated against his appearance. They marched through Chemnitz-Schönau and “showed the limits of the IB,” as one banner said.
Martin Sellner had already given a lecture at the end of November in Potsdam, in which some politicians from the far-right AfD party as well as individual members of the CDU and the far-right Union of Values participated in Potsdam. These were also plans to denaturalize and expel non-white people and people with foreign roots. This was reported by the Correctiv research center, which triggered a wave of protests throughout the country against right-wing extremism.
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The largest demonstrations in Hamburg and Dresden
Last Saturday there were three meetings against the state conference of the AfD party in Marl. According to the Rheinischer Post, up to 2,000 people demonstrated in front of the NRW event hall. The largest demonstration against the far right took place on Saturday in Stuttgart. Between 8,000 and 9,000 people gathered there, police said. On Saturday we were also able to record rallies, demonstrations, seas of lights and even a cultural festival in 50 other locations in Germany, in which 53,000 people participated.
On Sunday there were many people in two cities. In Hamburg, an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people gathered at the Dammtor train station to oppose right-wing extremists together with the Deichkind group.
In Dresden, between 15,000 and 20,000 people demonstrated under the slogan #WeAreTheFirewall. In her speech at the protest, climate activist Luisa Neubauer said: “They don't understand our indifference. Rather, we show ourselves from our most beautiful and supportive side. You don't have democracy, you live democracy.” In total, on Sunday there were 135,000 protesters in 49 events.
Hostility and disruption by right-wing extremists
Once again, most of the calls for demonstrations came from small towns and cities that are campaigning against right-wing extremists across Germany. We counted 59 demonstrations with three-digit participant numbers, a total of 27,000 people, and 46 demonstrations with four-digit participant numbers, a total of 107,000 people. The smallest demonstration we know of took place on Friday in Bruckmühl with 150 participants. People are often treated with hostility during protests, as local media have reported on several occasions.
On Sunday, right-wing extremists in Bautzen repeatedly disrupted a meeting under the slogan “Together against right-wing extremism! “Together for humanity and democracy!” They tried to get among the meeting participants, according to a press release from the Saxony police. Police filed four criminal charges on initial suspicion of using anti-constitutional signs against right-wing extremists and three charges against protest participants for masking.
Almost 5 million people against the extreme right
Since January 12, between 3.7 and 4.9 million people across the country have demonstrated in 1,264 rallies against the AfD and in favor of democracy, as an analysis by the Taz shows.
After four weeks we finish today, February 26. our data collection on the current protest movement against right-wing extremism. Many thanks to the many people who provided us with information: we received almost 700 letters in our information mailbox. We continue to make corrections and notes on the demos before February 26. in.