Tens of thousands protest in Germany against far-right AfD

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets in Germany on Saturday to protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and its anti-foreigner stance.

Thousands took to the streets in Frankfurt, Hanover, Kassel, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Karlsruhe, Nuremberg and other German cities, with some mocking the AfD with signs saying "Facism is not an alternative."

Even on the North Sea island of Sylt, a popular holiday destination for Germany's rich and wealthy, not known as a hotbed of political activism, some 600 people protested against the far-right, according to police.

The strong turnout follows a report from the news outlet Correctiv which revealed that AfD politicians held a meeting with far-right extremists in November in Potsdam near Berlin. Members of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the largest opposition party, also attended.

The report has caused an uproar in Germany, where there is mounting dread among mainstream political parties about the surge in public support for the AfD. The party is riding high in the polls of three former East German states that hold regional elections later this year.

At the Potsdam meeting, far-right extremists discussed topics like "remigration," a term frequently used in far-right circles as a euphemism for the expulsion of immigrants and minorities, including those who are naturalized German citizens.

The meeting's location is just under 10 kilometres from where Nazi leaders held a meeting in Wannsee on January 20, 1942 - exactly 82 years ago. There they coordinated the implementaton of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question," and discussed the systematic murder of up to 11 million Jews in Europe.

Interior Nancy Faeser said it feels that the meeting in Potsdam is reminiscent of the Nazi Wannsee Conference.

"It involuntarily brings back memories of the terrible Wannsee Conference," she told the Funke Mediengruppe on Saturday. She did not want to equate the two. "But what is hidden behind harmless-sounding terms such as 'remigration' is the idea of expelling and deporting people en masse because of their ethnic origin or their political views."

Saturday's protesters were clear that they do not want the country to return to its Nazi past.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, state Premier Hendrik Wüst from the CDU thanked those who came out to demonstrate against right-wing extremism and called for an "alliance of the centre" across all parties and levels of government.

"We need the democrats to stand shoulder to shoulder," he said. Wüst labelled the AfD a "dangerous Nazi party" that is not grounded in Germany's constitution.

"The AfD is not a conservative party and certainly not a value-orientated party," he said.

In Frankfurt, the country's financial capital, police put the number of protestors at around 35,000. A police spokesman described the atmosphere as peaceful.

Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef was expected to address the rally. The protests, which have been running for days, have also drawn support from Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

A similar protest in Limburg to the north-west of Frankfurt drew 2,800 earlier on Saturday, considerably more than had been expected.

In Hanover in northern Germany, organizers put the number of participants at 35,000, saying this estimate was in accordance with police figures. The police were not initially available for comment.

Former German president Christian Wulff and the premier of the state of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, were among those addressing the protesters on Hanover's Opera Square.

Other crowd estimates from the police included 12,000 in Kassel, 7,000 each in Dortmund and Wuppertal, 20,000 in Karlsruhe, at least 10,000 in Nuremberg, several thousand in Erfurt and about 16,000 in Halle/Saale.

Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews, welcomed the rallies.

"I am really pleased that the centre of society is standing up," Schuster told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, Thomas Haldenwang, told the Westdeutsche Zeitung newspaper that "it would be desirable if the silent majority of our population took a clear stand against extremism and anti-Semitism. And fortunately, many people are currently demonstrating against this."

In remarks on Friday, Scholz termed remigration "an attack on our democracy." He welcomed the protests planned for the weekend. "I say it in absolutely clarity and severity: Right-wing extremists are attacking our democracy," he said.

A mass rally in Hamburg on Friday evening had to be halted on safety grounds, as more people than expected turned out. Police put the numbers at 50,000, while organizers said 80,000 people had attended.

More demonstrations, including a large one in the capital Berlin, are planned for Sunday.