Germany: Protesters rally in Erfurt, denouncing political pacts with far right
Thousands of people took to the streets of the central German city of Erfurt on Saturday to demonstrate against political deals with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The protest was the latest response to a controversial vote that saw politician Thomas Kemmerich elected as premier of the state of Thuringia when the business-friendly FDP and center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) made a secret pact with the anti-immigration, anti-Islam AfD.
The decision broke a political taboo in Germany, caused nationwide outrage, and prompted the resignation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s likely successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as head of the ruling CDU.
During Saturday’s rally, many protesters held up placards which read: “No pact with fascists” or “No place for Nazis” as they gathered at Erfurt cathedral square.
Police are expecting 10,000 people for Saturday’s march in Erfurt
Busloads of activists
Organizers said at least 50 busloads of people from all over Germany had descended on the city.
“By making a pact with the AfD, the CDU and FDP opened the door of power to the extreme right,” said a spokeswoman for the Unteilbar (indivisible) movement, made up of union and charity workers, artists and politicians. Thanks to the unrelenting protests, “we as civil society have managed to slam this door shut again.”
Michael Rudolph, chair of the DGB Hesse-Thuringia branch told German broadcaster MDR that Saturday’s demo would not be the end of the protest against the vote.
The scandal in Thuringia unfolded when Kemmerich, an FDP politician was elected on February 5 thanks to the AfD’s backing. He won by one vote against the popular Left politician Bodo Ramelow.
In the face of massive pressure from Berlin, Kemmerich resigned after just three days in office.
Parallel demo in Dresden
Anti-fascist counter-demonstrators, meanwhile, forced a route change on a far-right march in Dresden on Saturday.
Dana Regev, DW’s correspondent reported that around several hundred neo-Nazis had begun their “funeral march” from the city’s central station.
Right-wing extremist groups have traditionally co-opted the remembrance day for the allied bombing of the eastern city on February 13, 1945 to push their agenda.
Multiple counter-rallies, united under the slogan of “disrupt Nazis,” started their own protests earlier in the day.
The marches follow a day of state commemorations for the victims on the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden.
mm,kmm/aw (dpa,AFP)
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