Dhe demonstrations in Germany against right-wing extremism continue: Thousands of people are expected to take part in demonstrations for the protection of democracy and against right-wing extremism in the coming days. According to the “Together Against the Right” alliance, rallies nationwide are planned in more than 200 cities and communities from Friday to Sunday. Trade unions, political parties and other civil society groups have also called for protests.
Demonstrations are scheduled to take place on Friday in Frankfurt am Main, Fürth, Göttingen and Herne, among others. Many of the demonstrations take place on Saturday, the international day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism. This day marks the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the National Socialist concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, people in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Aachen, among others, want to take to the streets on Saturday. In Lower Saxony, rallies are planned for Saturday in Lüneburg and Hanover, among others. In Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, demonstrations will take place in Marburg, Kaiserslautern and Worms. In northern Germany, the police in Kiel are expecting up to 10,000 participants on Saturday, and protests have also been registered in Hamburg Harburg, Emden and Lübeck. There will also be another demonstration in Berlin on Saturday. You can find an overview of the rallies planned for the weekend here:
In southern Germany, demonstrations have been registered for Saturday in Mannheim, Stuttgart, Tübingen, Schwäbisch Hall, Ingolstadt, Lindau and Passau, among others. In the east, rallies are planned in Bautzen, Wittenberg, Gera and Weimar, among others.
A signal should also be set in neighboring Austria. Following the example of the protests in Germany, similar rallies are planned for Friday in several Austrian cities. In Vienna, for example, several thousand participants are expected at 6 p.m. under the motto “Defend Democracy!”
There was already a demonstration on Thursday
More than 25,000 people took to the streets in several places in Germany on Thursday. According to police reports, at least 12,000 people protested in Wiesbaden. In Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, around 5,000 people followed the call of the “Alliance Open Colorful” initiative on Thursday. In Siegen, the police counted 5,000 people at the start of a rally early on Thursday evening, which was directed against a parallel New Year's reception of the AfD district association under the motto “Never again is now!”
A participant in the demonstration against right-wing extremism under the motto “Never again is now – all together against fascism”
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Image: dpa
According to police estimates, around 6,500 people gathered in Rostock on Thursday evening – more than at the other recent protests in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The organizers spoke of 9,500 participants. The motto was “Never again is now – all together against fascism”.
According to police information, more than 900,000 people nationwide took part in demonstrations against right-wing extremism last weekend. The trigger was research by the research network Correctiv into a meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam, at which, among other things, plans to deport millions of people of foreign origin were said to have been discussed.