Mass protests against right-wing extremism – demo in Munich canceled due to overcrowding
Organizers have to cancel the demo in Munich due to overcrowding
The demonstration against right-wing extremism in Munich was canceled due to overcrowding. It was said that the police could no longer ensure the safety of the participants. WELT reporter Phillip Röttger reports on the situation immediately before the demolition.
Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Dresden, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Freiburg: Hundreds of thousands of people across the country turned against right-wing extremism in dozens of demonstrations over the weekend. The message: “No tolerance for Nazis.”
In Germany, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets against right-wing extremism over the weekend. In many places, significantly more demonstrators came to the protests than expected. The rally in Munich had to be canceled due to overcrowding. The police spoke of around 100,000 participants there and announced that they could no longer ensure the safety of the demonstrators. The police also counted around 100,000 protesters Berlin.
The number of participants from the organizers was higher. So be in Berlin On Sunday, 350,000 people took to the streets, said the Campact network and Fridays for Future, who were co-organizers there. In Munich the organizers said there were around 250,000 participants.
Together with the demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, the organizing organizations calculated a total of 1.4 million participants. According to Campact, there were at least 40 rallies across Germany on Sunday alone, some in smaller towns. Campact board member Christoph Bautz spoke of a “weekend of hope”.
Demonstrators in front of the Victory Gate in Munich
Source: AFP/MICHAELA STACHE
In Berlin So many people flocked to the demonstration on Sunday afternoon that the meeting area was expanded. Subway stations and bridges were closed due to the crowds.
In Berlin, too, crowds gathered in front of the Bundestag
Source: REUTERS
At the demonstration in Cologne there was also a big crowd. The organizers spoke of 70,000 participants. NRW Deputy Prime Minister Mona Neubaur (Greens) told WDR that the people in the state showed “that they are vigorously defending our democracy”.
In Bremen According to organizers and police, 40,000 to 50,000 people took part. In Leipzig The organizers estimated the number of participants at more than 40,000.
Thousands demonstrate on the market square in Bremen
Source: dpa/Carmen Jaspersen
In Dresden According to the police, the original elevator route was also extended due to the “enormous number of participants”. A police spokesman said there were several thousand people out and the organizers said there were 50,000. In Brandenburg cottbus According to organizers, more than 5,000 people took part in the demonstration.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in numerous German cities on Friday and Saturday. The largest rallies took place on Saturday Frankfurt am Main, Hanover and Dortmund instead of. There was already a demonstration on Friday evening Hamburg ended early due to overcrowding. The number of participants was reported to be up to 160,000, the police spoke of more than 50,000.
Politicians welcome the protests
Top politicians from different parties supported the rallies. “The high participation in the demonstrations, especially in Halle, is a strong signal against right-wing extremism and for democratic coexistence, which we can look back on with pride,” said Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) to the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung” (Monday edition ).
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a video message about the demonstrations: “These people give us all courage.” They defend “our republic and our basic law against its enemies.”
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also welcomed the protests. It was “impressive to see that many people” now took to the streets and “showed the flag for our democracy,” Habeck told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” on Sunday.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) told the “Rheinische Post” (Monday edition): “The fact that several hundred thousand people are showing their faces and are actively defending our democracy right now is a very encouraging sign.” The president appeared on the TV channel “Welt”. The Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, was pleased that the events in Potsdam had woken up the people in the country. For Jews, this is an image “that can restore confidence in the democratic conditions in the Federal Republic.”
“There is a majority that has understood and is standing up against the AfD”
Hundreds of thousands are currently taking to the streets against right-wing extremism and the AfD. Josef Schuster, chairman of the Central Council of Jews, was very pleased about this on WELT TV. For Jews, this is an image “that can restore confidence in the democratic conditions in the Federal Republic.”
Source: World TV / Marie Drosten
The reason for the protests are revelations by the Correctiv network about a right-wing extremist secret meeting in Potsdam. Plans for a mass deportation of people with a migration background were discussed there, as well as other Germans who, from the participants’ point of view, were undesirable. Among others, members of the AfD and the right-wing conservative Values Union took part. The demonstrations are also fundamentally directed against the rise of right-wing extremism.
Note: This article is continually updated.