Discussed plans to deport refugees in Germany spark mass demonstrations

More than 100,000 people are protesting across Germany against meetings between the German far-right and representatives of the Alternative for Germany (ADG) on the mass deportation of refugees. Protests took place in about 100 places over the right-wing party’s meeting with neo-Nazis to discuss the deportation of those it considers unable to integrate, including those with German citizenship.

More than 100,000 people protested across Germany on Saturday against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which sparked outrage after party members were revealed to have discussed plans for mass deportations.

According to The Guardian, in Frankfurt, about 35 thousand people joined the call under the slogan “Defend Democracy – Frankfurt against the ADF”, marching in the financial center of Germany. A similar number, some with signs like “Nazis out,” appeared in Hannover.

Protests also took place in cities such as Braunschweig, Erfurt and Kassel, as well as many smaller towns, reflecting daily mobilization over the past week. In total, demonstrations were called in about 100 locations across Germany from Friday through the weekend, including in Berlin on Sunday. Politicians, churches and Bundesliga coaches have all called on people to oppose the ADC, The Guardian writes.

The protests began after it emerged that AfD party members had attended meetings with neo-Nazis and other extremists to discuss the mass deportation of migrants, asylum seekers and foreign-born German citizens believed to have failed to integrate.

Among the negotiators near the East German city of Potsdam was Martin Sellner, the leader of the Austrian identity movement, which espouses the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims there is a conspiracy by non-white migrants to replace Europe’s “native” white populations.

News of the meeting sent shockwaves across Germany at a time when the ADF is rapidly gaining popularity in opinion polls, just months before three major regional elections in East Germany, where their support is highest.

The anti-immigration party confirmed the presence of its members at the rally, but denied participation in the “remigration” project championed by Martin Sellner.

Leading politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who joined the demonstration over the weekend, said any plan to expel immigrants or citizens amounted to “an attack on our democracy and, in turn, on all of us.” He called on “everyone to stand up for unity, for tolerance, for our democratic Germany.”

Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition conservative CDU party, wrote online that it was “very encouraging that thousands of people are demonstrating peacefully against right-wing extremism.”

In addition to members of the ADG, the rally near Potsdam cited by Correctiv was also attended by two members of the far-right CDU Vertunion faction.

Amid outrage over the Potsdam meeting, the group’s leader, Hans-Georg Maassen, said on Saturday that it had decided to split from the CDU. The group said it has about 4,000 members, many of whom were originally members of the CDU or the Bavarian sister party CSU.

Created in 2013 by academics and economists as an anti-establishment and anti-euro force, the ADC quickly became an anti-immigrant party, abandoning its original founders.

The party gained particular popularity in 2015, when about a million migrants and refugees arrived in Germany, and in 2017 the party entered the Bundestag for the first time, initially as the leading opposition party.

Alternative for Germany’s popularity has risen again since the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict amid dissatisfaction with high energy bills, food inflation and what it sees as the high moral and financial costs of defending Ukraine.