Thousands march in Germany as AfD launches election campaign
January 25, 2025Thousands of Germans took to the streets in several cities to protest the rise of far-right extremism and the growing popularity of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
At Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, people blew whistles and sang anti-fascist songs, and in the western city of Cologne, protesters carried banners denouncing the AfD.
The protests also came as the AfD opened its election campaign in the central city of Halle. Around 4,500 AfD supporters gathered at a venue where the party's leader and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel addressed the crowd.
Migration at center of debate before February 23 election
Weidel began her address on migration, a topic that has moved to the forefront of the electoral campaign, especially this week in Germany.
On Wednesday, two people were killed, including a 2-year-old child, in a knife attack in the city of Aschaffenburg, in Bavaria. An Afghan man who was due to be deported was taken into custody on suspicion of having carried out the attack.
The official manifesto of the AfD seeks faster deportations of declined asylum-seekers and those who entered the country illegally, and the party has been severely criticized due to several controversial ideas.
AfD in buoyant mood with second place in polls
The far-right AfD is in second place at 20% according to the latest poll tracker, while the center-right bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, Christian Social Union (CSU), is in first place with around 31%.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) currently stand in third place at 15%, just ahead of the Greens at 14%.
Musk joins AfD campaign launch
Elon Musk, the US billionaire and adviser to US President Donald Trump, again backed the AfD on Saturday as he appeared via videolink at the party's campaign launch ahead of Weidel's address.
"I'm very excited for the AfD. I think you are really the best hope for Germany," Musk — who has been accused of meddling in European politics — said, adding that it was OK to "take pride" in being German.
"I think there is frankly too much of a focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that. Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents or even their great-grandparents," he said.
At Trump's inauguration on Monday, Musk attracted attention with a gesture reminiscent of a Nazi salute.
Weidel conveyed her best wishes for the US, now under the Trump administration, and adapted Trump's slogan, saying: "Make Germany great again."
Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has classified the AfD as a "suspected" far-right extremist organization.
Tens of thousands protest right-wing extremism
Weidel's event was met with protests in Halle, as tens of thousands took part in demonstrations against right-wing extremism in several cities.
Cologne police estimated the number of participants on Saturday afternoon at "significantly more than 20,000 people." Organizers had initially registered between 5,000 and 10,000 participants.
Despite the large crowds, a police spokeswoman said everything had gone smoothly.
kb/rm (dpa, AFP)