To date there have been more than 1,150 anti-rights demonstrations across the country with 3.5 million participants. Another 100 demonstrations are planned for the weekend.

Protest against the AfD in Thuringia, Nordhausen, February 20, 2024 Photo: Matthias Bein/dpa

SEDAN taz | A light campaign is planned for Saturday on the island of Pellworm, in the North Sea, in favor of peace and democracy and against those who question these values. “Please bring everything that is illuminated and can be seen from Halligen,” says the appeal from various political parties. “We want to send a conscious signal against intolerance, exclusion and the erosion of democratic values.”

With the demonstration, Pellworm joins an already long list of places across the country where demonstrations have been held in recent weeks against right-wing extremism and for a diverse Germany. Another 100 demonstrations and rallies are planned this weekend.

The wave of protests was sparked by revelations by the Correctiv research center about a meeting of neo-Nazis at the end of November, at which some politicians from the far-right AfD, as well as individual members of the CDU and the far-right Union of Valores participated in Potsdam. These were also plans to denaturalize and expel non-white people and people with foreign roots.

Neo-Nazi Martin Sellner, who is apparently expected to attend a neo-Nazi meeting point in Chemitz on Friday afternoon, gave a lecture. The “Nazi-Free Chemnitz” alliance has called for a protest against this. Larger demonstrations are also planned this weekend in Dresden, Hamburg, Potsdam and Stuttgart.

Protests are also planned in Eisleben, Saxony-Anhalt. There, the AfD, classified as far-right by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt, recently voted in the district council against financial aid for the local theater. The reason: At the end of January, employees protested against right-wing extremism in nearby Sangerhausen. The aid was also approved without the votes of the far right.

3.5 million people demonstrate throughout the country

So far we have been able to document figures of around 1,150 anti-right demonstrations throughout Germany. A total of 3.5 million people took to the streets. Days of remembrance also served as new occasions, such as the commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust on January 27 or that of the victims of the far-right attack in Hanau on February 19, 2020.

Last weekend there were more than 125 demonstrations across the country, many of them commemorating Hanau. By our count, at least 180,000 people took to the streets. At the height of the protests in late January, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on weekends, and more than a million on the weekend of January 19 alone.

Demonstrations against the war of aggression against Ukraine

Saturday marks the second anniversary of Russia's attack on all of Ukraine, which violated international law. Numerous events will also be held on this occasion. Several demonstrations against Russia and President Vladimir Putin, as well as in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, are planned for Saturday in Berlin. Some events are planned around the Russian embassy Unter den Linden in Berlin-Mitte.

During its demonstration on Saturday, the Ukrainian solidarity association Vitsche wanted to project photographs and videos of the war at the embassy for an hour. The police had banned it and the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg confirmed the ban. Vitsche now wants to involve the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe and obtain an urgent decision there. (with dpa)

Since January we have been collecting the dates of current demonstrations against right-wing extremism, also via the email address demo Notices@taz.de. So far we have received more than 650 suggestions. This list forms the basis of our analysis; The processed data can be downloaded from our charts and used freely. We appreciate reports of bugs and outdated information and will be happy to correct them.