On Saturday, thousands of people in Bavaria took a stand for cohesion and tolerance in society and against exclusion and extremism. According to initial police reports, the demonstrations in Würzburg, Aschaffenburg and Nuremberg remained peaceful.
Many participants used self-designed posters to promote coexistence in Germany, including with migrants. “Björn Höcke is a Nazi”, “It’s better to be colorful than shitty brown”, “Stop the arsonists”: the demonstrators in Nuremberg clearly turned against the right. The Alliance to Stop Nazis took part in the rally under the motto “Now! Not an inch from the fascists!” called. According to police information, there were significantly more participants than the expected 1,000 – more precise figures were not initially available. In Würzburg the emergency services numbered 2,000 to 3,000 people and in Aschaffenburg around 800.
On Sunday there is likely to be the largest gathering of the weekend in Bavaria in Munich. According to the state capital, up to 20,000 people are expected, the organizers are expecting more than 30,000 people.
The protests were triggered by a report from the media company Correctiv from last week about a previously unknown meeting of right-wing extremists in a Potsdam villa on November 25th. Several AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union also took part in the meeting.