Tens of thousands march across Germany to protest far-right party AfD

Key Points:

• Tens of thousands protested across Germany against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) following its landslide victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, with about 150,000 demonstrators rallying in around 20 cities including Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich.
• The protests, organized by groups like Pruef and Campact, featured slogans such as “Ban the AfD now” and aimed to prevent the AfD, seen as a threat to Germany’s democratic constitution, from gaining government power.
• The AfD won nearly 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, far surpassing the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and is now negotiating to form a government, which would mark the first far-right-led state government in Germany since World War II.
• Despite the AfD’s electoral success, all mainstream parties have so far refused to join a coalition with it, maintaining a "firewall" policy to exclude the party from government, while calls to ban the AfD face legal challenges and political reluctance.
• The rise of the AfD has caused significant unease in Germany due to the party’s anti-immigration stance, pro-Russia positions, and the country’s historical context, prompting widespread public demonstrations and debate about the future of German democracy.