Demo against far right draws thousands in Berlin

Demo held under motto "We are the firewall" — reference to Germany's established parties not to work with far right

By AFP

February 17, 2025

Demonstrators hold placards during a protest against right-wing extremism, racism and for social justice, ahead of the upcoming general election, in Berlin, Germany on February 16, 2025. —Reuters

BERLIN: Tens of thousands of people joined a demonstration against cooperation with the far right in Berlin on Sunday, after US Vice-President JD Vance called for Germany to drop the longstanding taboo.

Around 30,000 people took part in the protest a week ahead of a general election, according to police, while organisers put the number at around 38,000.

Many carried placards with slogans denouncing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is expected to become the second-biggest party in next Sunday’s vote.

The demo was held under the motto “We are the firewall” -- a reference to the longstanding position of Germany’s established parties not to work with the far right.

In a speech in Munich on Friday, Vance called on Germany to drop its resistance to having the far right in government, insisting there was “no room for firewalls”.

Robert Porth, 32, an employee at German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, said he was “really scared by the current political developments in Germany”.

“I don’t want to have to reproach myself later that I sat at home on the sofa and did nothing about it while I still could,” he said.

Pensioner Hannelore Reiner, 71, said she saw “a lot of parallels to 1933, to the time before the war when (Adolf) Hitler’s fascism came to power”.

“A lot reminds me of that. The discussions back then, the exclusion, the anti-Semitism. And I’m afraid history will repeat itself,” she said.

The conservative CDU-CSU alliance of former chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to be the biggest party after the election, with the AfD second.

The anti-immigration party has seen its poll ratings edge upwards in recent months and is expected to register a record-breaking score of around 20 percent of the vote.

The rise of the AfD -- aided by US support, most notably from tech billionaire Elon Musk -- has alarmed its critics, with several demonstrations attracting large crowds in recent weeks.

Some 250,000 people attended a demonstration against the far right in Munich last weekend, with a similar demo in Berlin the week before drawing around 160,000.