Thousands of Germans protest against far-right after secret meeting on deportations

first Amendment: 01/21/2024 – 01:53Last change: 01/21/2024 – 02:29

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Germany recorded mass protests this Saturday, January 20, in which approximately 200,000 people took part to express themselves against the far-right AfD party.

A crackdown was launched against the group over the weekend after it was revealed that members of the movement had attended a conference organized by conservatives and neo-Nazis to discuss a proposal that would have included expelling millions of citizens and foreign residents. About 90 calls came.

A journalistic investigation of the portal’corrective Details of that meeting, which took place in November last year, emerged which have alarmed many Germans and drawn comparisons with the Nazi era.

According to journalistic investigation, The November meeting was attended by businessmen, federal and regional lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party; personal assistant to that party’s co-leader Alice Weidel; And even two members of the most conservative wing of the main German opposition party, the CDU.

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The mobilization against this alleged plan is supported by democratic politicians, unions, churches and civil organizations. And, like last week, these are expected to be repeated this Sunday too.

In Frankfurt, a march was held with record numbers: according to the police, about 35,000 people took part in the call of an environmental organization under the motto “Defend democracy – Frankfurt against the AfD and turn to the right”.

The city’s mayor, Mike Joseph, addressed the attendees along with other relevant local figures such as Federal Bank President Joachim Nagel.

“Fundamentalism, racism, has never in history led to greater prosperity, but has always led to misery And to the impoverishment and destruction of co-existence of all people in our city, in our country,” Joseph said.

Thousands of people also marched in other parts of Germany, such as Hanover or Dortmund. In Hanover, located in the center of the country, more than 35,000 people joined the call in the busiest protest in the history of the capital of Lower Saxony – according to organizers.

In another city, in the west, officials said there were 30,000 protesters. Additionally, in the towns in the south and east, Karsluhe and Halle, 20,000 and 16,000 attendees were confirmed respectively.

on Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke in favor of these mobilizations against German extremism, calling them “good and right”. He did this during a video, in which he expressed his consent to this The country’s new law will ease the path to citizenship And, on the other hand, the deportation rules.

“I try to imagine how our more than 20 million citizens with a history of migration feel,” the German chancellor said.

He stressed, “With the new citizenship law we say to everyone who has lived and worked in Germany for decades, respects our laws and who feels at home: You belong to Germany. “

In recent months, the AfD party has increased its support in polls and moved up to second place in voting intention, just below the Christian Democrats and above the Social Democrats led by Scholz.

Amid the controversy, the right-wing party stressed that its program only considers the possibility of expelling irregular migrants from Germany, but not the hundreds of thousands of people who are “integrated” or who already have national citizenship. Is.

With EFE and Reuters