On Saturday, at 9:31 a.m., the Chancellor spoke up with a morning greeting to all the people who would be demonstrating that day: “In small and large cities across the country, many citizens are coming together to fight against forgetting “To demonstrate against hatred and agitation – also this weekend,” wrote Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Platform X. “A strong sign for democracy and our Basic Law.”
Demonstrations against right-wing extremism were also registered for this Saturday in numerous cities in Bavaria. Impressions from the second and third largest cities in the Free State:
augsburg
The “Alliance for Human Dignity” registered a number of 2,000 participants in Augsburg. That wouldn’t be enough, as the organizers of the demonstration against right-wing extremism soon realized. The fact that more than 25,000 people ended up populating the town hall square and surrounding streets exceeded expectations. “Never again is now” is written on a poster that hangs directly in the central location of Augsburg’s city center; it is a motto that the demonstrators can get used to. A broad alliance had promoted the demonstration: FC Augsburg and the Augsburger Panther ice hockey club, the Protestant regional bishop Axel Piper and the Catholic bishop Bertram Meier, Mayor Eva Weber (CSU) and almost all parties in the Augsburg city council in a joint statement. “Everyone is welcome, except right-wing extremists,” it is said at the beginning around 2 p.m. on stage, to great applause from the masses. “I am proud of Augsburg,” shouts the mayor, and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) sees it as a “sign of strength.”
These demonstrators immortalized their messages on banners using spray cans.
(Photo: Florian Fuchs)
Politics is made on the backs of dogs here.
(Photo: Florian Fuchs)
There had been discord in the run-up to her speech from the Free Voters. Bavaria’s Digital Minister Fabian Mehring announced that he had offered to speak, but the organizers had told him that ministers should not speak. He was annoyed that Minister of State for Culture Roth was still on the list of speakers, raising the question of whether the event was just an election campaign for the center-left. The organizers quickly explained that they had tried to get Mehring to speak, but that Bernhard Pohl, a member of the state parliament, was now speaking for the Free Voters instead – which in turn meant that Mehring had to be accused of using his personal sensitivities to distract from the fight against right-wing extremism.
“We won’t let ourselves be distracted by such childishness,” says one participant, “EkelhAfD” is written on her poster. Like many others, she didn’t quite make it to the town hall square, the crowd was too big. Luckily, the organizers have set up loudspeakers so that the speeches can also be heard in the side streets. And there is even something for children: soap bubbles, painting stations and make-up – very colorful, with lots of colors.
Nuremberg
According to police reports, 25,000 people took part in the rally against right-wing extremism at the Nuremberg Kornmarkt on Saturday.
(Photo: Olaf Przybilla)
The organizers had announced a demonstration with 1,000 people two weeks ago, and according to police information, 15 times as many ended up coming to Nuremberg’s Willy-Brandt-Platz. To the rally “Never again is now!” After this experience, the organizers had originally announced 3,000 people this Saturday, as a precaution. But this time too, that will be exceeded many times over. Anyone who looks from the seventh floor of the trade union building on Kornmarkt at 4 p.m. will hardly see a spot of earth without people below. How many are there? It’s hard to tell up there, people are also crowding in the surrounding squares – at the transition to Grasersgasse, at Hallplatz, on Kurt-Schumacher-Straße.
In the end there were 25,000 people, says police spokesman Michael Petzold, who also mentioned a counter-demonstration that was taking place just around the corner. According to official information, there will be a crowd in the “low double-digit range” on Saturday. Which is quite an announcement in comparison.
Thousands of people crowded together in one of the large squares in the city center of Nuremberg, something like this was probably last seen in 2007, when the club won the cup and showed up at the main market. 1. FC Nürnberg plays a role this time too, but of course a different one. The club had a home game early on Saturday afternoon, so to allow fans to attend the rally, it doesn’t start until 4 p.m. The association is part of the “Alliance against right-wing extremism in the Nuremberg metropolitan region”, which includes 160 municipalities and more than 290 civil society organizations; it expressly sees itself as an alliance of city and country. The alliance had originally invited people to protest against right-wing extremism a week earlier, but due to the train drivers’ strike, the decision was made to postpone it. This is also obviously a sign: those from the large municipality are not gathering here. Here we stand together, city and country.
The alliance wants to set an example “for diversity, democracy and human rights” and “against right-wing extremism, exclusion, Nazi propaganda and ethnic-nationalist delusions,” says chairman Stephan Doll – and attaches importance to the statement that it is not just Mayor Marcus König (CSU) shows its flag in Nuremberg, but also all the “democratic parties” that are represented in the state and federal parliaments: SPD, Greens, FDP, Left and Free Voters. The man who the alliance has named as a preferred candidate speaks for the state government: Joachim Herrmann (CSU), who is Bavaria’s interior minister and is responsible for constitutional issues and also comes from Erlangen, the classic Nuremberg metropolitan region.
The minister’s appearance was initially accompanied by boos, but this died down noticeably as the speech progressed (“Clear stance against right-wing extremism”). “We are all in demand,” he says – and: “We are the majority.” In the end, a lot of approval for Herrmann.