Renewed mass demonstrations against the right
Pistorius: AfD wants to go back to “racial madness”
January 27, 2024, 3:02 p.m
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Tens of thousands are once again forming demonstrations against right-wing extremism across Germany. Three times as many protests are planned as in the previous week. In many places, government members are also taking to the streets – in Osnabrück, for example, Defense Minister Pistorius has clear words.
At an anti-right rally, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned against the AfD. Democracy in Germany is under pressure, the SPD politician said in front of around 25,000 people in his hometown of Osnabrück. The AfD wants system change. “That means nothing other than that they want to go back to the dark times of racial madness, discrimination, inequality and injustice,” explained Pistorius, who was formerly the mayor of Osnabrück.
Pistorius also drew a comparison with the Weimar Republic, which did not collapse because of its enemies, but because of the weakness of its friends. “Today we know better, history must not repeat itself,” said Pistorius to great applause. The rally under the motto “Osnabrück shows its colors – for democracy, against fascism” was organized by a broad alliance of more than 40 groups. The police and organizers said the number of participants was around 25,000.
In other cities, thousands of people again took to the streets in demonstrations and rallies against extremism. According to the police, 11,500 people came together in Kiel. According to police reports, “several tens of thousands of people” gathered in Düsseldorf at midday; the rush is great. The organizers had registered around 30,000 participants.
Demos planned in 300 villages and cities
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff accompanied a protest in Wittenberg. In Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann and his wife Gerlinde took part in a demonstration against right-wing extremism.
According to the “Together Against the Right” alliance, demonstrations are planned in more than 300 villages and cities this weekend. Many rallies had already taken place on Friday, for example in Frankfurt am Main, Saarbrücken, Gütersloh, Reutlingen, Oberursel, Nordhorn and Neuruppin.
According to the Campact network, there are three times as many protests taking place this weekend as in the previous week, especially many in East Germany. There will be demonstrations in Gera, Nordhausen, Wismar, Hoyerswerda, Frankfurt (Oder) and Saalfeld. Campact’s Christoph Bautz said the demonstrations against the AfD were “the largest wave of protests our country has ever experienced.” Now it is also affecting small towns and villages, especially where it is most urgent: in the east of the republic. “We expect hundreds of thousands of people to demonstrate against right-wing extremism and for human rights – many of them for the first time in their lives.”
Scholz: “Our country is on its feet”
The actions are a response to research by the media collective Correctiv, which revealed that radical right-wing circles met with AfD officials and a leading head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement in Potsdam in November 2023. The meeting discussed, among other things, a “master plan” for the “remigration” of millions of people with and without German citizenship from Germany.
This Saturday’s demonstrations coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day, on which numerous events commemorate the victims of National Socialism. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was pleased about the demonstrations, but called for continued commitment to democracy. These demonstrations cannot replace political engagement, said Steinmeier on SWR when asked what would happen next with the protests. His request to those who are dissatisfied is to get off the sofa and get actively involved in the community.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz also welcomed the numerous demonstrations against right-wing extremism in the last few days and weeks. “Our country is currently on its feet. Millions of citizens are taking to the streets,” he said in his weekly video “Chancellor Compact”. It is the solidarity of the democrats that makes democracy strong. “Our democracy is not God-given. It is man-made. It is strong when we support it. And it needs us when it is attacked.”