Rhineland-Palatinate
Thousands of counter-demonstrators at AfD events
Numerous people demonstrate on the Römerberg in Frankfurt against the AfD and right-wing extremism. photo
© Andreas Arnold/dpa
People in Germany have been taking to the streets against the right for weeks. There were also demos in Rhineland-Palatinate on Friday – because of AfD events. Party leader Weidel was also expected there.
Several thousand people protested on Friday evening AfD events in Simmern in Rhineland-Palatinate in the Hunsrück and in Trier were protested. According to police, around 4,000 people took part in several counter-demonstrations in Simmern. The city has around 8,000 inhabitants. A police spokesman said on Friday evening that everything had been peaceful so far. According to the police, around 500 people were expected at the AfD’s “citizen dialogue”, at which party leader Alice Weidel was also expected.
In Trier, around 1,000 people demonstrated with posters, shouts and speeches against the AfD and the participants in their event. Three demos were registered in Simmern – one under the motto “Democracy, Tolerance and Human Rights”.
In Trier, the AfD district association had invited people to an internal event that evening in the premises of the adult education center at Domfreihof, the police said. A stationary rally on the square at the cathedral was organized as a counter-demonstration under the motto “No space for the AfD”. The police ensured that the AfD guests were able to get to the event room unhindered and that the rally could proceed without disruption, it was said.
Trigger of the protests
People in Germany have been taking to the streets against the right for weeks. On Friday, rallies were also registered in Landau and Speyer, among others.
The protests were triggered by a report by the media company Correctiv about a meeting of radical right-wingers on November 25th in Potsdam, which was also attended by AfD politicians and individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union. The former head of the Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, confirmed to the German Press Agency that he spoke about “remigration” at the meeting. When right-wing extremists use this term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country – even under duress.