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Reports of a meeting between right-wing activists and politicians from the AfD and CDU on migration have alarmed many: tens of thousands of people across Germany want to take to the streets in the coming days to take a stand against right-wing extremism and for democracy.

About 10,000 people are expected in Hamburg today at a demonstration “against right-wing extremism and neo-Nazi networks”. Rallies are also planned in many other cities with titles such as ‘Never again now’ and ‘Defend democracy’.

The heads of government participate in various states: in Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD), in Jena Thuringia Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left), in Hannover Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), in Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD).

Tens of thousands are expected

In Hanover, where organizers expect more than 10,000 participants on Saturday, former Federal President Christian Wulff (CDU) and the chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, are also expected to speak. A demonstration will take place in Karlsruhe on Saturday along the Federal Constitutional Court. 10,000 to 20,000 demonstrators are expected in Munich on Sunday.

Further larger demonstrations will take place in Kiel and Bielefeld, in Braunschweig, Dortmund, Erfurt and Heidelberg, but also in Berlin and Dresden. There is even a demo recorded in Westerland on Sylt.

Broad social support

According to a report by the media company “Correctiv” about a meeting with right-wing extremists in Potsdam, anti-right rallies had already taken place in recent days, often with significantly more participants than expected. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Cologne, among other places.

In many places the calls are supported by large social alliances, in which, in addition to the SPD, the Greens and Left, as well as churches and trade unions, cultural institutions and football clubs, participate.

“Anti-constitutional and right-wing trends pose a threat to our democratic society. It is therefore important that we as a broad majority raise our voices and send a loud, decisive signal against any form of exclusion, intolerance and discrimination,” said the President of the Bundesliga Werder Bremen football team, Hubertus Hess-Grunewald.

Thanks from the Chancellor to the demonstrators

Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked the demonstrators on the X platform, formerly Twitter, who stood up “against racism, hate speech and for our free democracy.” “This is encouraging and shows that there are many among us democrats – many more than those who want to sow division,” the SPD politician wrote.

The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), also thanked the civil courage. “Let us all show our faces against the arsonists and agitators and for a cosmopolitan Germany,” Wüst wrote on X.

Rallies are already planned after the weekend. A human chain is planned around the Reichstag building in Berlin on February 3 as a symbol of a firewall against the right.

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