Thousands of people took to the streets in the southern German city of Freiburg on Monday to demonstrate against the Alternative for Germany (AfD), as protests continue against a shift to the right less than two weeks before the elections.
Some 10,000 people had gathered for the rally in Freiburg one hour before it was due to start, according to an initial police estimate.
The protest march set out from the city centre and finished at a venue in Freiburg’s north-east where the AfD was scheduled to hold a campaign event.
Hundreds of thousands of people have joined pro-democracy demonstrations across Germany in recent weeks, with the far-right AfD polling in second place behind the conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) bloc ahead of the election on February 23.
Protesters have been particularly angered by the CDU/CSU’s willingness to push through a non-binding motion calling for a crackdown on migration using votes from the AfD, tearing down the long-standing “firewall” preventing cooperation with the far right.
In their protest call, organizers in Freiburg – an alliance called “Freiburg Resist” – said: “Let’s not allow the AfD and CDU to form the next government!”
Participants walk through Freiburg during an anti-AfD protest march from the city center to the Buergerhaus Zaehringen, where an event of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is taking place. Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa
Participants walk through Freiburg during an anti-AfD protest march from the city center to the Buergerhaus Zaehringen, where an event of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is taking place. Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa
