They formed a human chain in front of the Reichstag and chanted anti-fascist slogans: nearly 150,000 people demonstrated according to the police in the center of Berlin against the far right, while more than two hundred peaceful rallies were planned in the country. “There are 300,000 of us in Berlin and tens of thousands in the streets across Germany and livestreaming. You are crazy ! », declared for their part the organizers on X (formerly Twitter).
The square in front of the Reichstag, in the heart of the power district, was packed with people in the middle of the day. Many people who were unable to access it were redirected to the banks of the Spree and to the side of the neighboring Tiergarten park, journalists from Agence France-Presse noted.
“All together against fascism! », chanted the crowd, followed live by a thousand people on YouTube. “From the heart instead of hatred”, “Racism is not an alternative”, “Freedom, equality, fuck AfD”, in reference to the anti-migrant and anti-system party Alternative for Germany, could we read on the signs colorful demonstrators. The gathering, larger than expected, dispersed at the end of the afternoon.
The shock after a meeting of extremists
The 200 rallies planned in the country, as for several weeks, testify to the shock caused by the revelation, on January 10, by the German investigative media Correctiv of a meeting of extremists in Potsdam, near Berlin, where, in November, a plan for mass expulsion of foreigners or people of foreign origin was discussed.
Against a backdrop of economic slowdown and inflation, the AfD continues to progress in the polls, a few months before three important regional elections in the east of the country.
The rally was organized by the Hand in Hand movement, which brings together nearly 1,800 organizations, including the Friday for Future organization and the citizen alliance Campact. Law enforcement in the capital announced that they had deployed 700 police officers on site.