Thousands more people turned out on Sunday to protest the growing influence of the far right in Germany, after hundreds of thousands took to the streets a day earlier.
About 4,500 people participated in a rally in Bremerhaven, on the North Sea coast, police there reported. It was held under the slogan “For democracy, diversity and a future worth living in freedom.”
Around 1,200 people assembled at the church square in the northern town of Hannoversch Münden on Sunday. Their rallying cry was “Never again is now – Against the right!”
In the town of Zetel, not far from Bremerhaven, about 500 people gathered to protest against the AfD under the motto “Zetel resists!”
In Sarstedt, south of Hanover, approximately 400 people convened in front of the town hall, police reported. The rally’s theme was “Defend democracy.”
Germany’s anti-immigration, anti-EU AfD is flying high in opinion polls ahead of the February 23 general election. The AfD is ahead of all parties except the mainstream conservative CDU/CSU bloc.
There has been a wave of demonstrations after the CDU/CSU alliance passed a non-binding motion on tough migration reforms in parliament last month with support from the AfD.
The controversial vote – which broke the taboo on cooperating with the hardline party – has since dominated the campaign.
Protests drew 250,000 people in Munich on Saturday, according to police. Other rallies were held in cities large and small on the same day, with 20,000 turning out in Nuremberg, 24,000 in Hanover and 35,000 in Bremen.
Protestors take part in a demonstration on the fringes of an election campaign event of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), planned at the Heidenheim concert hall. The “Alliance against the Right” in Heidenheim had called for a demonstration and rally under the slogan “We are the firewall”. Stefan Puchner/dpa
