Berlin: A protest against the far right in the German city of Munich on Sunday afternoon (Berlin-time) ended early due to safety concerns after approximately 100,000 people showed up, police said.
The demonstration was one of dozens around the country this weekend that drew hundreds of thousands of people in total.
People hold up their cell phones as they protest against the AfD party and right-wing extremism in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany.Credit: AP
The demonstrations came in the wake of a report that right-wing extremists recently met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship. Some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, were present at the meeting.
In the western city of Cologne, police confirmed “tens of thousands” of people showed up to protest on Sunday, and organisers spoke of around 70,000 people.
A protest Sunday afternoon in Berlin drew at least 60,000 people and potentially up to 100,000, police said, according to the German news agency dpa.
A similar demonstration Friday in Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city, drew what police said was a crowd of 50,000 and had to be ended early because of safety concerns.
Protests against the AfD and for defending democracy have been taking place following the revelation high-ranking AfD members met with far-right extremists last November.Credit: Getty
And Saturday protests in other German cities like Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Hannover drew tens of thousands of people.
Although Germany has seen other protests against the far right in past years, the size and scope of protests being held this weekend — not just in major cities, but also in dozens of smaller cities across the country — are notable. The large turnout around Germany showed how these protests are galvanising popular opposition to the AfD in a new way.
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