Thousands take part in Berlin protest marches
THOUSANDS of anti-racism campaigners, left-wingers and techno lovers filled the streets of Berlin yesterday to rival a rally called by the far-right AfD party, with police deploying in force to keep the peace.
Uniting under the banner “Stop the hatred”, counter-demonstrators said they wanted to drown out the march by the anti-immigration, anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD).
But AfD members have accused some opponents of threatening to use violence.
Shortly after midday, about 1 000 AfD supporters gathered at Berlin’s main train station for the start of their march “for the future of Germany”.
The march marks the first public show of strength by the nationalist outfit since it became the largest opposition party.
“I came because we can’t go on like this with Merkel,” 47-year-old AfD member Christian Neubauer said.
“It can’t be that the government wastes all this money on refugees while our elderly live in poverty.”
After predicting 10 000 AfD supporters would show up, organisers later scaled back expectations to “at least 2 500 to 5 000”. Berlin AfD chief Georg Pazderski said ahead of the march that many still feared being stigmatised for showing their AfD colours, even after the party took nearly 13% of the vote and won its first seats in the national parliament in last year’s elections.
In the heart of Berlin, meanwhile, around 3 000 people began gathering for a slate of counter-demos, with organisers saying they intended to dwarf the far-right turnout.
“We won’t leave the streets to the AfD,” Nora Berneis of the “Stop the hatred, stop the AfD” alliance, which includes political parties, unions, student bodies, migrant advocates and civil society organisations, said.
One of the most colourful counterdemos was organised by 100 clubs from Berlin’s legendary techno scene, who were using boats and floats on the River Spree and a convoy of DJ-carrying trucks to “bass away” the AfD.
“The Berlin club culture is everything that Nazis are not,” they said.
“We are progressive, queer, feminist, anti-racist, inclusive, colourful and we have unicorns.”
More than 13 000 dance fans said they would attend.