Berlin: German police said that an anti-far-right protest in the German city of Munich on Sunday afternoon (Berlin time) ended early due to safety concerns after about 100,000 people participated.
The demonstration was one of dozens across the country this weekend that attracted hundreds of thousands of people in total.
People raise their mobile phones as they protest against the AfD and right-wing extremism in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany.credit: AP
The demonstrations followed a report that right-wing extremists recently met to discuss deporting millions of migrants, including some with German citizenship. The meeting was attended by some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
In the western city of Cologne, police confirmed that “tens of thousands” of people participated in the protest on Sunday, and organizers spoke of about 70,000 people.
A Sunday afternoon protest in Berlin attracted at least 60,000 people and possibly as many as 100,000, police said, according to German news agency DPA.
A similar demonstration on Friday in Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city, attracted what police said was a crowd of 50,000 people and had to be ended early due to safety concerns.
Protests against the AfD and the Defense for Democracy party erupted after revelations that high-ranking AfD members met with right-wing extremists last November.credit: GT
Saturday's protests in other German cities such as Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Hanover attracted tens of thousands of people.
Although Germany has seen other anti-far-right protests in recent years, the scale and scope of this weekend's protests – not just in major cities, but also in dozens of small towns across the country – is notable. The large turnout across Germany showed how these protests are galvanizing popular opposition to the AfD in a new way.
